Shards of Darkness
by Above the Winter Moonlight
Summary: AU. Peace is shattered when rumors spread of a rebellion against the Republic led by two enigmatic and dangerous leaders who are hell-bent on achieving what the late Palpatine could not. War brews on the horizon and Obi-Wan Kenobi and his family find themselves caught in the middle of a storm that could destroy them and all that they cherish…Sequel to Here I Go Again. Ch. 4 Posted
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **Okay, so everyone who read _Here I Go Again_ and wanted a sequel, here you go. This takes place sixteen years after the end of _Here I Go Again _but will include flashbacks. I will also like to tell you that this story will not include the Yuuzhan Vong (though I might do another story that does) but will include an enemy that does make an appearance in the EU. Also, the planet mentioned in the prologue is a real planet but I made up some things about it since there wasn't much information about it on Wookieepedia. I hope that you enjoy the sequel to _Here I Go Again_ and reviews are much appreciated.

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Star Wars, I never have and I never will and I am only saying this once_

* * *

**Shards of Darkness**

* * *

_**Prologue**_

She dashed down another alley before pressing her back against the wall struggling to regain her breath. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins. That adrenaline was the only thing that was keeping the exhaustion that was clawing at her at bay. She closed her eyes suddenly wishing she had her lightsaber with her but her lightsaber was back at the Jedi Temple left in the hand of her former Master.

Jenica Narak did not regret leaving the Jedi Order. Even to this day, sixteen years after her decision to leave, she did not regret it. She could still remember the screams of the rebels who were aiding the Separatists in their occupation of the Republic planet of Caloria. The rebels had believed that the Separatists were doing the planet a favor because they believed the Republic was corrupt. They were the ones that helped the Separatists launch an invasion of the planet. Jenica and her friend Ahsoka had only been sent to try to negotiate with the rebels to attempt to bring them back to the Republic but the invasion stopped that.

When the rebels had succeeded in destroying the shield generator that protected Allon, it was decided that there was no way negotiations could go through and Jenica and Ahsoka were tasked with bringing the rebels to justice. However, just because she knew that the rebels were partially responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocents because they allowed the invasion to go forth, didn't mean Jenica wanted them dead.

And yet that was exactly what happened. The rebels would not give up and thus Jenica and Ahsoka were forced to kill them. It was the hardest decision Jenica ever had to make and it showed her of how much the Jedi had changed because of the war. She couldn't deal with the guilt of what she had done even thought she knew that she had no other choice. She just wished there had been another way.

Nevertheless, that was the main reason why she made the choice to leave the Jedi Order.

The hum of a lightsaber cut through her musings and Jenica pulled herself back to the present before stretching out with the Force. She shivered when she felt the coiling darkness that surrounded her pursuer and she started moving again trying to ignore her exhaustion.

The dark Jedi had been pursuing her for several hours now and didn't seem to be showing any signs of letting up. Jenica didn't know how he knew she had once been a Jedi. He never told her when he first admitted that. He simply said that he was determined to succeed where Palpatine failed and destroy the Jedi and needed her help to do it.

Jenica refused and he said that her death would serve him well enough though he seemed to hint that he would prefer her alive.

He's been chasing her ever since.

The only reason Jenica had managed to get away was because of the help of a Republic soldier on leave by the name of Wedge who had spotted her and had managed to distract the dark Jedi long enough for Jenica to get a much needed head start. She wished she could have helped him but she had never finished her training so there wasn't much she could do to fight against a dark Jedi who has obviously had more training than her.

She hoped Wedge got out of there alive though.

"Come out, Jedi," the dark Jedi called; though quiet, his voice echoed through the silent streets of the city.

Jenica took a deep breath to calm herself before she used the Force and leapt onto the roof of the building she had been leaning against. She dashed from the top of that building to another building leaping over them as if they were stepping stones and she could sense that her pursuer was following her.

She risked a glance over her shoulder to briefly examine the dark Jedi who was three buildings behind her. He was around her age with nondescript looks; brown hair cropped in a military cut and eyes that were either brown or yellow. Jenica couldn't tell in the limited light that came from the moon above her head.

Turning her gaze back to what was in front of her, she leapt to the roof of another building and continued to run; her legs were starting to ache but she pushed herself to keep going. She didn't have any way to defend herself except for the blaster that was tucked away in her boot and she knew that the blaster wouldn't help against the dark Jedi whose crimson lightsaber hummed in the darkness as he continued his pursuit.

Gritting her teeth, Jenica leapt to the roof of another building before dropping down into the alley that separated the building she was on from the building next to it. Without pausing, as she was sure her pursuer had noticed her sudden change of direction, Jenica dashed out of the alley and down the main street of Ussa.

It was empty of pedestrians, which Jenica thought was a good thing. She didn't want to think about what the dark Jedi would do to anyone who got in his way. He didn't seem to have a problem with killing Wedge just to get to Jenica.

Again, Jenica hoped that Wedge somehow got out of the dark Jedi's way alive.

"Over here!" A very familiar voice called and Jenica looked up as the hazel-eyed Republic soldier who had first distracted the dark Jedi gestured to a nearby alley he was standing beside. In the light from the streetlamp, Jenica could see the smoking hole in Wedge's thigh though she was thankful that he had managed to survive though.

She veered toward Wedge. "You shouldn't be here. He's right behind me," she said glancing over her shoulder though a jolt of fear went through her when she found that she couldn't see the dark Jedi. She gritted her teeth and released her fear into the Force before looking at Wedge.

"We need to get out of here," Wedge said as if reading her mind.

Jenica nodded. "I have to tell the Jedi Council about this," she said. "I just need a way off Bellassa."

"Let's get out of here first," said Wedge before he limped down the alley and Jenica followed him scanning the area with the Force. She was stunned to see that the dark Jedi was no longer pursuing her and it made her wonder what he hoped to gain by letting her escape. He said that he needed her alive but killing her would serve the same purpose.

_But what purpose would letting me escape serve?_ She thought. She shook her head. Whatever the dark Jedi's reasons for doing what he was doing, they would have to wait. Right now, Jenica had to warn the Jedi Council about the dark Jedi and his desire to destroy the Jedi. Whether he actually could or not was a question that Jenica didn't yet have an answer to.

* * *

Darth Sicarius watched from the roof of a nearby building as the former Jedi he had been chasing for the past couple of hours followed the limping Republic soldier toward the spaceport. He knew that he could easily take her out right then and there but he didn't see the point. _I did say that she would make herself useful to me dead or alive,_ Sicarius thought.

The young woman would go to Coruscant and would warn the Jedi Council about Sicarius just as he thought she would, just as his ally suspected she would.

Sicarius was careful about who he dealt with ever since he first began to secretly organize an offensive against the Republic. However, his ally was someone Palpatine, himself, approved of. He also knew about the threat that Palpatine knew about, that Palpatine was attempting to stop by molding the Republic into something better and ruled by a single person; an Empire. However, the Empire could not come to be so long as the peacekeeping Jedi remained. Unfortunately, Palpatine's plan to destroy the Jedi had failed sixteen years earlier.

Sicarius then took the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith for himself. After he took the mantle, he struck a bargain with his ally to help him destroy the Jedi and turn the Republic into an Empire ruled by a single person that could better combat the threat that existed beyond the Unknown Regions.

For sixteen years, Sicarius has been gathering his forces and more allies, including three of Palpatine's advisors after they had been discovered to have been in league with Palpatine and were convicted of treason but managed to escape Coruscant, but he remained on the border between the Outer Rim and the Unknown Regions while he prepared himself.

Now it was time for him to reveal himself and that was why he had tracked the former Jedi Jenica Narak, whom he learned about from the spy he had on Coruscant prior to Palpatine's defeat even if his spy hadn't lasted much longer. He knew that if he could have succeeded in killing Narak then her death would have been felt and the Jedi would have known something had happened. They would then have sent a investigative team to find who killed Narak, his ally had suggested as much would happen though Sicarius didn't really need his ally to suggest that to him. He knew that, at times, the Jedi could be very predictable.

However, letting Narak escape so that she could the Jedi herself about Sicarius accomplished the same goal. In the end, Sicarius simply let the former Jedi and her Republic soldier ally leave Bellassa because he knew that things would work out just as he wanted them to in the end.

Sitting back on his heels once Narak and her ally disappeared into the spaceport, Sicarius keyed on his comlink. "I'm done here. Meet me at the rendezvous in five minutes," he said.

"_I'm on my way, Master,_" the voice of Sicarius's apprentice said sweetly before she disconnected the transmission and Sicarius's eyes fixed on the spaceport again momentarily before he stood up, turned around and made his way toward the rendezvous point.

Darth Sicarius was determined to succeed whereas Palpatine had failed. The galaxy would be his to do with what he pleased once he destroyed the Jedi and brought the Senate crumbling down. He knew that it would take time for his ultimate plan to be completed but, so long as the Jedi did not know his identity, his location or what his plans were, he would have all the time he needed.

When he reached the rendezvous, he leapt onto the boarding ramp of the ship as it was lowered before making his way to the cockpit. Briefly glancing at his pilot, and apprentice, he said, "Return to the _Katana._"

"Yes, Master," his apprentice said before she guided the ship away from Bellassa toward the moon that orbited Bellassa in the shadow of which was Sicarius's flagship, a Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser and the flagship of a fleet of Dreadnaughts lost to the Republic a few years before the beginning of the Clone Wars.

Sicarius had run across the Katana fleet, as it was dubbed, during the second year of the Clone Wars and, after having it cleared out of the insane crew members, he filled it with volunteers from the Confederacy of Independent Systems who thought he was going to use the fleet to help the Confederacy. After the Confederacy was defeated and disband, the crew remained as Sicarius promised them another chance to get what they were hoping to get from the Confederacy.

Since the Katana fleet worked with a slave circuit, Sicarius only needed about twenty-two hundred men to crew each dreadnaught. However, finding two thousand men to crew two hundred dreadnoughts was not easy and, therefore, Sicarius was only able to crew a few of the dreadnoughts at a time. However, seventeen years after he discovered the fleet, he had gotten enough volunteers (including Chiss volunteers who followed his ally) to crew half of the Katana fleet. After disabling the slave circuit for the other half, Sicarius kept it hidden someplace he was sure no one would think to look for it.

However, the part of the fleet that he did have under his control was something the Republic will not see coming. Of that, Sicarius was sure. Now it was time for him to mentally prepare himself for what was about to occur.

* * *

**A/n what do you think?**

**Blaze: yes, I know the prologue was short. It was meant to be. It only introduces one of the antagonists and gives a huge hint at the other. Oh and, just so you know, I made it this way for the second antagonist because I really do feel that he would have some followers even if most of his people didn't agree with him.**

**Darth: I'm sure people will figure out who the other antagonist is**

**Blaze: depends entirely on whether they read the trilogy by Timothy Zahn**

**Darth: good point**

**Anakin: (drinking cappuccino) so will the next chapter be longer?**

**Blaze: It probably will be. Most prologues are short after all**

**Obi-Wan: (also drinking cappuccino) that is true**

**Darth: cappuccino?**

**Obi-Wan: (hands Darth cappuccino)**

**Darth: CAPPUCCINO! (Takes cappuccino and runs)**

**Blaze: (sighs) well, I hope that you enjoyed the prologue and this is set in an alternate universe, the universe created by the events of **_**Here I Go Again**_** therefore many, if not all, things that occurred in canon do not occur in this story or occur differently. That really is a given but I thought it would be a good idea to mention it.**

**Darth: (at Starbucks) well duh**

**Blaze: oh shut up. The first chapter will be posted soon and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 1

**WOW! 17 reviews on one chapter! HELL YEAH. Ahem. Anyway, on to my notes; the city name is made up as is the description of the planet and, once again, everything that happens in the EU will not happen as it actually occurs in the EU. Again, that's a given but just thought I'd point it out again. Also, I'm not that great with lightsaber duels so sorry about that. **

_**Chapter 1**_

The plains stretched out endlessly toward the mountains lying in the distance. At the base of the mountains was the city of Thyr, the capital of the planet Thustra, where delegates were gathered to discuss a possible treaty between Thustra and the Republic. Thustra had once been a Republic planet but they had betrayed the Republic during the Clone Wars and joined the Confederacy. Following the defeat and disbandment of the Confederacy, the Sephi on Thustra remained outside the Republic until recently when they sent an emissary to negotiate the possibility of rejoining the Republic.

Luke Skywalker may only be a Padawan but even he could sense that the Sephi had ulterior motives for wishing to rejoin the Republic though it wasn't clear what those motives were. Whatever they were, the Sephi obviously believed it would be in their best interests to rejoin the Republic hence why Luke was standing in a conference room bored out of his skull while he listened to the Sephi and the Senate's representative, his mother Senator Padmé Amidala Skywalker, negotiate the terms of the treaty.

Luke's best friend Jinn often joked that Luke had inherited his dislike of politics from his father, a claim that Luke didn't deny. He wasn't like his twin sister Leia; he didn't like politics. But all Jedi were trained in diplomacy just as they were trained in lightsaber combat and Force skills. The negotiations on Thustra were supposed to be a learning experience for Luke to see diplomacy in action.

Luke's mother sat to the right of Representative Lirka, the Sephi whom had originally sent the emissary with the request, listening to the representative put forth her proposal while remaining calm and still like a statue. She nodded her head when Lirka finished speaking before saying, "The Republic will welcome you and your people, Representative Lirka. We are willing to give you all the benefits you had when you were a member of the Republic before you left. However, the rumor that you mentioned that has you so concerned, that is something we can do nothing about until we have more information."

Luke straightened up a little; he had been tuning out most of the representative's talk that he had missed the mention of any rumors. He looked over the table toward Jinn as his best friend, leaning against the wall of the conference room, narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. Luke was positive that his friend had listened to everything the representative had said though; he usually did. He was like his father, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, in that he was a great listener and on his way to being a negotiator possibly as great as his father.

Jinn tipped his head to one side with a faint knowing smirk on his face and Luke, feeling embarrassed, looked away before listening when Lirka began speaking again.

"We have many eyewitnesses to the fleet massing near the Unknown Regions, Senator Skywalker," the Sephi said.

"I am not saying you're lying, Representative Lirka, but unless we have concrete evidence and unless this fleet makes a move against the Republic, there is little we can do," said Padmé. "I will bring this warning to Chancellor Mothma's attention though when I return to Coruscant. If there is a fleet massing near the Unknown Regions, it might be best to figure out why they are there and whether they pose a threat to the Republic or not."

"From what the eyewitnesses have said, the sheer size of the fleet is enough to threaten the Republic," said Lirka."

"We don't know that. Is it possible they are remnants of the Confederacy?" Padmé said it calmly with no emotion passing across her face while Lirka flinched a little at the mention of the Confederacy her planet betrayed the Republic to join.

"If they are, we would not know. We left the Confederacy right after the end of the wars," she said. "However, I don't see how the remnants of the Confederacy could have amassed a fleet of that size without anyone knowing it."

"It has been sixteen years, Representative," said Padmé. "It is possible. How big is the fleet?"

"The eyewitnesses aren't sure."

"I see. Very well, I will tell Chancellor Mothma and we'll see if there is any truth to these rumors. Might I suggest we shelve these discussions for after we discover whether these rumors are true?"

Lirka was silent for a long moment before she nodded causing a few strands of black hair to fall into her face. "That would be best. If we discover anything more then we shall let you know. Thank you for taking the time to hear my proposal."

"Of course, Representative." Padmé and the Sephi stood up at the same time before inclining their heads to each other politely before Padmé turned around and walked toward the door to the conference room, her long yellow gown trailing behind her.

Luke and Jinn walked after the Senator as she led the way out of the palace and into the courtyard. They were halfway across the courtyard when Luke's comlink chimed; fishing it out of his belt, he activated it. "Skywalker," he said.

"_Luke, how'd the negotiations go?_" Luke's father Anakin Skywalker asked.

"What I paid attention to went well," Luke said.

"_You weren't paying attention?_"

"He's your son all right," Padmé said hearing Anakin's voice and Luke could feel a twinge of irritation combined with amusement come off Anakin through the Force bond that connected them.

"_I wasn't that bad,_" Anakin said.

"Dad has many tales that clearly say otherwise," Jinn said with a faint smile.

"_Old man should've been a storyteller._"

Luke chuckled. "So what's up, Dad?" he asked.

"_The Council wants us to return to Coruscant right away. Obi-Wan just got a surprise visit by Jenica and the news she brought with her isn't good,_" Anakin said.

Luke hasn't seen Jenica in years. The dark-haired young woman who had been Obi-Wan's second apprentice before she left the Order often babysat Luke, his sister and Jinn and his sister Kira when they were little and their parents were too busy with missions or with the Senate. Luke had come to see her as an aunt and she didn't seem to mind it when he called her Aunt Jeni whenever she babysat the four of them.

"What kind of news?" he asked curiously.

"_Don't know. Obi-Wan didn't say. He just said that it's important._"

"All right, dad. We're on our way to the landing bay now," Luke said before he disconnected the transmission and put his comlink away and the three of them began walking again.

It was when they had just reached the landing bay that the disturbance flashed through the Force. Luke started before shouting "_look out!_" and pushing his mother out of the way just as the blaster bolt blazed through the air where Padmé had been standing moments before.

Luke whirled around eyes trying to find the source of the assassination attempt with his lightsaber in his hand. Jinn, green lightsaber in hand and ignited, was also scanning the area. "There," he said pointing with his lightsaber toward a figure that was fleeing from the scene with his sniper rifle in hand.

"I'm going after him," Jinn said looking at Luke. "You, get Aunt Padmé back to the ship." Without waiting for Luke to respond, Jinn dashed off in the direction the assassin had fled.

"Are you all right, Mom?" Luke asked holding out a hand and helping his mother to her feet.

"Just a bit bruised from the fall but I'm fine," Padmé said.

"Come on, let's get out of here. There could be more of them," Luke said and quickly guided Padmé into the landing bay and toward the shuttle.

* * *

The Chancellor's office was done in gentle earth tones with its large transparisteel windows offering a splendid view of the Senate distract. It was the office of the former Chancellor Finis Valorum though it wasn't used following Palpatine's election but, as the office that served as Palpatine's office during his reign as Chancellor held too many bad memories, the Chancellors after Palpatine decided to use Valorum's old office instead.

Leia Skywalker stood beside the desk of the current Chancellor of the Republic, Mon Mothma, as she read over the many reports she was delivered every day. Leia had taken after her mother in her love of politics and she hoped that she could be as great a Senator as her mother currently was. Her mother had been offered the chance to be Chancellor following the defeat of Palpatine but refused and, instead, remained a senator while she was raising Leia and her twin brother Luke.

Bail Organa was elected as Chancellor following the end of the Clone Wars and, with the approval of the Senate to avoid another Palpatine from rising, put into affect an amendment to the Constitution that stated that a Chancellor could only serve a maximum of two terms, or eight years, and could not stay in office past his or her two terms. It was agreed by many members of the Senate that Palpatine being allowed to stay in office longer than his two terms gave him too much power so they created an amendment to properly address that problem.

Mon Mothma was in her last year as Chancellor, having been elected after Bail eight years earlier, and the Senate were hinting that they were going to attempt to convince Leia's mother to enter in the running for the position. Now that Leia and her brother were old enough to watch out for themselves, Leia had a feeling that if Padmé was offered the chance then she would take it.

Mon Mothma looked toward Leia. "I believe I'm done here, Leia. You can head home now if you want," she said.

"Are you sure?" Leia asked.

"Yes, I'm sure, Leia. Go home."

"Very well, Chancellor. I'll be back here tomorrow morning," Leia said before she turned and made her way out of the office where her bodyguard joined her. She headed down the corridor toward the nearest turbolift and slipped into it before heading down to the first floor of the Senate building. Leaving the turbolift and walking across the atrium, Leia's thoughts drifted.

She thought about her mother who was away on the planet Thustra negotiating a possible treaty between the Sephi and the Republic but she was worried. She had some training in the Force and her Force bond with Luke allowed her to feel the sudden worry her brother had felt and she felt worried as well.

_Did something happen to Mom?_ Leia thought wishing, not for the first time, that she could speak to Luke though they were light-years apart. Despite how strong their bond was, Leia couldn't do that with her brother; she had learned from her godfather, Obi-Wan, that to speak to someone through the Force over long distances required training, training that couldn't be done overnight.

Leia's father did his best to teach her enough about the Force so that she could control it but her desire to follow in her mother's footsteps made it so that the training she received from her father wasn't as extensive as the training Luke received. Luke's training was more extensive because he wanted to be a Jedi.

However, what she was taught allowed her to feel the Force's subtle nudges whenever she was in danger like at that moment.

Leia's head shot up as the danger sense surged through her before she scanned the atrium but she couldn't see anything or anyone other than the other senators and aides who were walking across the smooth tiled floor. She shook her head but the bad feeling continued to cling to her.

Something wasn't right.

Leia reached out with the Force hoping what her father had taught her would help her figure out who was causing her bad feeling but she couldn't pinpoint its source. She could feel the emotions of the senators and aides that wandered around her as well as the emotions of the Republic soldiers and Senate guards but nothing that could have caused the bad feeling, at least nothing that she could pinpoint.

Leia knew to trust the Force though and so kept a lookout as she made her way to the doors to the Great Door that led into the atrium. She wished she had her blaster with her; at least she would have been able to protect herself if something happened. But weapons weren't permitted in the presence of the Chancellor unless the Senate guards were the ones carrying them.

Leia sighed as she walked past the Great Door and stepped into the large, flat concourse outside that was known as the Avenue of the Core Founders. The bad feeling suddenly grew stronger and Leia again looked around but whoever was causing the bad feeling, whether they were Force sensitive or just posing ill-intent toward Leia, remained hidden.

"Are you all right?" her bodyguard, a dark-haired Republic soldier whom had taken to being Leia's bodyguard ever since someone tried to kill her while on a mission that he was part of three years earlier, asked.

"I'm fine, Wes. Just a bad feeling," Leia said.

Wes Janson scanned the area as well brown eyes narrowed. "Let's get moving. I'd rather not have your dad come after me if anything happened to you. He already doesn't like me."

Leia knew that was only because Janson tried to flirt with her every chance he got and that irritated her rather overprotective father. Not to say it didn't irritate her because it did.

They had just reached the speeder when that bad feeling surged so violently that Leia swayed just as Janson suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her down as blasterfire shot through the air where she had been standing. Janson, blaster in hand, looked out over the speeder eyes narrowed.

"Coward," he muttered before he looked at Leia. "You all right?"

"I'm fine," Leia said. "Did you get a good look at him?"

"No, he was in armor. Could've been a Mandalorian but that's doubtful. Come on, let's get ya outta here before he comes back."

Leia nodded in agreement before she stood up and climbed into the speeder's passenger seat while Janson got into the pilot's seat. "He's gone," she said as the bad feeling went away though she wondered why he left right away. She then noticed the patrol speeders that were heading in the direction the assassin had attacked from and she figured that was why.

Janson guided the airspeeder away from the avenue and toward 500 Republica while Leia wondered who had attacked her and why.

* * *

Jinn Kenobi used the Force to leap onto the roof of the building he had seen the assassin on before dashing across its surface. The assassin was keeping ahead of him but Jinn wasn't about to let him get away not after what happened. He wanted to know why the assassin tried to kill his aunt and who he was especially since he could feel that the assassin was using the Force to increase his speed, something that had only been taught to Jinn recently.

He used the Force to augment his speed as well and began to gain on the assassin. Lashing out with the Force once he and the assassin were on the roof of the same building, he watched as the assassin dropped the sniper rifle and did a one-handed flip in response to the Force push. He then turned around the hood of his cloak falling to reveal that he was in fact a she and she was young, around Jinn's age.

Instead of using Jinn's momentary surprise to escape, the assassin's lips parted in a small smile and her green eyes glinted with anticipation as she called a cylindrical handle to her hand and the magenta blade cut through the air with a _hiss._ She raised an eyebrow challengingly at Jinn who ignited his own blade in response.

"Who are you?" he said.

The assassin said nothing as she, with a front flip that brought her closer to the Padawan, attacked. Jinn caught the attack with his blade and the duel began in a blur. Blades clashed, attacks were blocked, thrusts were parried and Jinn immediately noted that the assassin's attacks were wide and fast but also clumsy as if she had just started learning to fight with a lightsaber. But she backed her attacks with uses of the Force.

A Force push sent Jinn skidding backwards a few feet before he was forced onto the defensive when the assassin launched a series of short strikes that were a blur of magenta. Jinn managed to block all the strikes but the assassin wasn't letting up, thrusting and slashing at Jinn forcing him to remain on the defensive.

Whoever the assassin was, she had some skill with a lightsaber.

But Jinn could also see by her ruthless attacks that she was starting to get overconfident. When he saw an opening on her left side, he parried a slash before retracting his blade and nearly succeeded in landing a blow on the assassin's side had she not saw it coming. She leapt backwards to avoid it before lifting her blade to block Jinn's next attack.

"Who are you?" he said again.

She didn't answer though she did glare at him with frustration in her eyes as if she couldn't believe she wasn't getting any closer to beating him. She lashed out with the Force but Jinn leapt out of the way to dodge the Force blast only to realize it was a distraction as the assassin, deactivating her lightsaber, grabbed her sniper rifle and took off.

Jinn started to go after her until his comlink went off. He deactivated his lightsaber with a sigh before pulling his comlink out. "Yes?" he said into it.

"_Jinn, Luke said you went after the assassin. Did you catch him?_" his master, and mother, demanded.

"Her and no, she escaped but she was a dark Jedi."

"_A dark Jedi? Are you sure?_"

"As sure as I can be."

"_Very well. Get back. We need to report this to the Council._"

"All right, mom, I'm on my way." Jinn deactivated the comlink and glanced in the general direction the assassin had gone in before he leapt off the roof of the building he was on and made his way toward the landing bay.

Once onboard the shuttle that had transported him, his mother, Anakin, Luke and Padmé to Thustra, he was immediately confronted by his mother. Siri rested her hands on her hips and gazed at Jinn with narrowed eyes.

"You shouldn't have gone off by yourself. That was incredibly reckless of you" she said before she sighed and added, "Next time, think before you do something."

"I will and I'm sorry but I couldn't let her get away."

"She still got away," said Luke.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Jinn said with a glare at Luke who chuckled.

"Let's head back to Coruscant," said Anakin. "Luke, do you…?"

"Yes," Luke said cutting his father off midsentence before he got to his feet and made his way into the cockpit. Jinn chuckled before he sat down beside his aunt.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Jinn. It's been a while since that's happened though," Padmé said. "I'm wondering why though."

"I wish I knew, Aunt Padmé," said Jinn as the ship shuddered before lifting off the landing pad and flew through the atmosphere before making the jump to hyperspace once the ship was beyond the planet's gravity well.

Jinn moved to the floor of the lounge before crossing his legs and slipping into a light meditative trance. His thoughts were on the assassin and he had to wonder where she came from and why she tried to kill his aunt. She was obviously skilled in lightsaber combat and in using the Force and that made Jinn wonder who taught her.

He also reached out with the Force to his sister. Among other things they were taught when they became Padawans, Jinn and Kira had also been trained to speak through the bond that connected them even if they were light-years away. He was able to connect with his sister with ease after eight years of training.

'_Jinn, what happened?_' Kira's voice asked in his mind.

He told her about the assassination attempt. '_She was taught how to fight with a lightsaber and how to use the Force,_' he finished. '_I wish I knew why she tried to kill Aunt Padmé though._'

Kira was silent for a long moment. '_It's similar to what Aunt Jeni told Dad,_' she said.

'_What did Aunt Jeni tell Dad?_'

'_Apparently, she was attacked by a dark Jedi while on Bellassa. She said that the dark Jedi wanted to destroy the Jedi and said that he needed her help to do it. When she refused to help him, he said that her death would work just as much as her being alive._'

'_Why her?_'

'_I don't know. Dad thinks it's because the dark Jedi wants the Jedi to know about him though he doesn't know why_,' said Kira. '_But don't you think it's odd that both Jeni and Aunt Padmé were attacked by dark Jedi?_'

'_It is an odd coincidence,_' said Jinn. '_But we don't know that the dark Jedi are working together though we shouldn't assume they aren't working together._'

'_Good point. I'll see you when you return to Coruscant, Jinn. Dad wants to spar,_' Kira said and her presence drifted from Jinn's mind.

* * *

Igniting her yellow lightsaber, Kira Kenobi stood across the training room from her father whose own lightsaber was ignited and in his hand. She took a deep breath before attacking; she slashed toward her father's side but Obi-Wan easily blocked the move before parrying the thrust that Kira, after retracting her blade, aimed at him.

Kira gritted her teeth before releasing her frustration into the Force. She had been fighting with her father for the past half an hour and the only reason she wasn't tired was because they had taken a ten minute break. She let out an explosive breath as she gazed at her father who held her gaze.

Before Kira could attack though, the door opened and Jenica made her way into the training room. She remained standing by the door as Obi-Wan lowered his blade and looked toward her. "Jenica," he greeted her.

"Obi-Wan," Jenica said. "The Council wants to see you."

"They didn't contact me."

"I offered to tell you myself." There was a profound sadness in her eyes but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared.

Obi-Wan blinked in understanding. "You miss the Temple." It wasn't a question.

Jenica sighed. "I don't regret leaving but I do miss it," she said before she looked at Kira. "Kira, you've grown since I last saw you. You're even taller than your father."

"Everyone's taller than dad," said Kira.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow while Jenica chuckled.

"I'd better go see what the Council wants. How long are you staying on Coruscant, Jenica?"

"I think I'll stay long enough to greet Ahsoka and Anakin when they get back to Coruscant but then I'm heading back to Bellassa?"

"Is that a good idea?" Kira said. "I mean the dark Jedi could come back."

"I don't think so. He didn't kill me when he had the chance."

"I agree with Kira, Jenica," said Obi-Wan. "I'm sure the Council will let you stay within the Temple for the time being."

"I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask." Obi-Wan left the training room and Jenica walked over to join Kira as she deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it to her belt.

"What are you going to do now?" Jenica asked.

"I don't know. Meditate probably."

"Mind if I join you?"

Kira glanced at the dark-haired former Jedi before she nodded. "No, I don't mind." She left the training room and Jenica followed her as she walked down the hall toward the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Entering the room, she took a seat on one of the many benches that lined the stone paths of the room. Jenica sat down beside her as Kira reached into the Force slipping into a meditative trance.

"What do these dark Jedi hope to accomplish by revealing themselves?" Kira said softly.

"I wish I knew," said Jenica.

"Do you think the dark Jedi who attacked you is connected to the dark Jedi who tried to kill Aunt Padmé?"

Jenica was silent for a long moment. "I don't know. I don't know any more than what I've already told you, Obi-Wan and the Council. Whoever this dark Jedi is, he obviously wants to try to accomplish what Palpatine couldn't. He said as much."

"Yes you said that before. Could he have been an apprentice of Palpatine?"

"I don't think so. There are only ever two and Palpatine's apprentice was Dooku."

"But wasn't Dooku arrested? Could Palpatine have taken on another apprentice after Dooku's arrest?"

Jenica fell silent again. "It's possible but unlikely. Based on what he told me, we can assume he knew Palpatine at least. He didn't necessarily have to be Palpatine's apprentice."

"Good point."

A few days later, Kira and Jenica, along with Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and her apprentice Mara, were waiting outside the Temple to greet the party returning from Thustra. Jenica had decided to stay on Coruscant for the time being and spent most of her time catching up with Obi-Wan and the rest of the Jedi within the Temple especially Ahsoka. They had been close friends before Jenica left the Order and still kept in contact after the Clone Wars ended.

The ship glided toward the landing pad before landing and the boarding ramp lowered before Jinn and Luke walked out of the ship with Anakin and Siri just behind them. "Hey Aunt Jeni," Luke greeted Jenica who smiled in response.

"The Council wants a report of the negotiations on Thustra as well as tell you of what's happened," said Obi-Wan walking over to join his wife.

"Now?" Siri said with a frown.

"The news Jenica brought with her when she arrived on Coruscant is important and I think it could be linked to what happened on Thustra." Kira had told him what Jinn told her about what happened after the negotiations.

"What did happen?" asked Anakin.

"It'd be better if we talk about it inside." Obi-Wan turned around before leading the way back into the Temple.

Kira fell into step beside her brother. "So, before the assassination attempt, how'd the negotiations go?" she asked.

Jinn glanced at her. "They went fine," he said, "though the representative talked about rumors suggesting there was a fleet near the Unknown Regions."

"Remnants of the Separatists?" Kira knew that though many of the Separatist leaders were apprehended, and the movement was disbanded, there were still some Separatists out there who managed to escape capture.

"That's what Aunt Padmé thought but there's no proof that the fleet belong to the remnants of the Separatists," said Jinn.

Kira pressed her lips together as she entered the Temple at her brother's side a thoughtful look crossing her eyes. "Seems odd that there would be two dark Jedi attacks around the same time that we learn about these rumors," she said.

"Do you think they're connected?"

"I wish I knew."

* * *

**A/n what do you think?**

**Blaze: well, that was the first chapter, introducing the two sets of twins**

**Darth: cool**

**Blaze: all the characters whom are OCs or are hardly mentioned in the EU and whom weren't developed in **_**Here I Go Again **_**will be developed in this story (or in **_**Album **_**or, more likely, both) though not in the first chapter**

**Darth: duh**

**Blaze: (pushes Darth into gigantic chocolate cream pie)**

**Darth: YUM! THANKS! (Starts eating chocolate cream pie)**

**Blaze: in the next chapter, we'll be going to the POV of the parents**

**Anakin: yay!**

**Obi-Wan: you're thirty-eight years old and still acting like a kid**

**Anakin: of course**

**Blaze: also, I was going to include flashbacks but I decided to post a story that I'm calling **_**Album**_** that will be a series of oneshots and short stories set between **_**Here I Go Again **_**and **_**Shards of Darkness**_

**Darth: (still eating chocolate cream pie) cool**

**Blaze: so please review and I will post chapter 2 as soon as I possibly can (maybe this weekend)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thank you to the 11 people who reviewed chapter 1. You guys are the greatest and here is chapter 2. I hope that you like it and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.**

_**Chapter 2**_

"Why did he let her live when he could have killed her easily based on what she said happened?" Anakin said after he heard Jenica recount what happened on Bellassa.

They were standing in the council chamber on top of the High Council Tower. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows that circled the majority of the chamber. Also circling the chamber were twelve chairs on which sat the members of the Jedi High Council who were the wisest and most powerful members of the Jedi Order.

The Grand Master of the Jedi Order, Yoda, pressed his lips together. He sat directly across from the door leading into the chamber with his gimer stick resting on his lap. The years had been kind to Yoda though he was getting up there in the years. He still took an active role in training younglings; he had even trained Luke briefly while he had been a youngling before Anakin took him as his apprentice.

"Believe I do," Yoda said breaking his silence, "that send a message to us this dark Jedi did by letting you live, Jenica."

"But what could that message be?" Mace Windu, a tall, dark-skinned Korun Jedi Master, said. "That the Sith have returned?"

"We can't assume they are Sith," said Adi Gallia. "Perhaps he is simply telling us he is threatening the Republic."

"But why?" Stass Allie said with a frown.

"It's obvious he wants us to know about him," said Obi-Wan. "He said as much to Jenica. There are many possibilities for why though."

"What I want to know is," said Siri, "is this connected to the assassination attempt of Senator Skywalker on Thustra?"

"While it's possible, we simply don't know," Plo Koon said gravelly.

"There's also the fact of the rumors of the massive fleet forming on the edge of the Unknown Regions," said Anakin. "Padmé told me that Representative Lirka believes there is a fleet massing near the Unknown Regions. It could be the remnants of the Separatists but we don't know anything more than what Lirka told us."

"We don't know if this fleet threatens the Republic or not," said Siri, "but if the rumors are true then it is a threat just because of the fleet's sheer size. But, based on what Lirka told Padmé, they haven't made a move."

"It seems an odd coincidence that we learn of these rumors at the same time, or around the same time, that Senator Skywalker and Jenica are attacked by two different dark Jedi," Obi-Wan said as his lips pressed together and his eyes narrowed. Anakin knew that his brother didn't believe in coincidence and was searching for the connection.

"Connected these three events are," said Yoda. "Believe in coincidence I do not. First and foremost, check we must to see if true these rumors are."

"And if they are?" asked Anakin.

"Then decide if it is a threat we must."

"What about the dark Jedi?" Siri asked.

"Little there is we can do," said Yoda.

"They may have already gone to ground," Mace said. "Finding these dark Jedi may prove to be a challenge especially if they do not wish to be found.

Anakin's lips thinned but he remained silent. No matter how much he wanted to find the dark Jedi who tried to kill his wife, he knew that Mace was right and that he would just have to be as patient as he could be.

"Do you think they'll show themselves again?" Siri asked.

"The dark Jedi who attacked Jenica wanted us to know about him so it's possible he will show himself again. As for the other dark Jedi, I do not know," said Plo.

"For now, let's focus on confirming if these rumors are true," Adi said.

"Spoke with Chancellor Mon Mothma before this meeting began I did," said Yoda. "Agrees with me she does that confirm these rumors we must. Send an investigative team to the edge of the Unknown Regions we will to confirm if true or not the rumor is."

"It'll have to be a small team though," Stass said. "We don't want to alert the fleet to the fact that we know it's there if it is."

"Agree I do," said Yoda. "Send Master Kenobi and his apprentice we will along with Knight Tano and her apprentice. Discuss this more when return Master Kenobi does."

"May the Force be with you," said Mace ending the meeting.

Anakin fell into step beside his brother as the two of them left the room. Siri brought up the rear talking with her old master Adi and Shaak Ti. Anakin turned to look at Obi-Wan. "So, old man, how was your break from field work?"

Obi-Wan looked at him. "Relaxing," he said. "And I'm not old."

"You look old."

"You're thirty eight."

"And your point is—?"

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Oh Anakin, there are many things about you that will never change no matter how old you are," he said.

Anakin smirked.

Later that night, Anakin sat up sharply in his bed staring at the window across from the bed as the vividness of his nightmare replayed in his mind. He saw the rising flames and smell the suffocating smoke as it shrouded the burning city in shadows. Beyond the smoke, he saw malevolent eyes watching the flames and listening to the agonizing screams of the citizens unlucky enough to be caught in the inferno.

Anakin shook his head struggling to remove the nightmare from his consciousness but he found it would not go away. It was vague in that Anakin couldn't begin to figure out where it took place but it was vivid in that Anakin could feel the heat of the flames. He knew it had to be a vision because of how vivid it was.

Again trying to push it away, Anakin stood up before making his way into the living area of Padmé's apartment. After learning about the attempted murder of his daughter, Anakin and Luke decided to stay the night in Padmé's apartment to keep an eye on things and make sure the assassin didn't try again. However, everything was quiet and everyone in the apartment was asleep.

At least, everyone was supposed to be asleep.

Anakin narrowed his eyes as he gazed at his son. Luke was seated on the couch gazing out the large windows of the apartment at the endless cityscape that stretched out beyond though he must have sensed Anakin's presence for he looked up. The slight haunted look in his son's eyes immediately erased Anakin's question for why his son was up.

He had learned several years ago that Luke had, unfortunately, inherited his ability to see the future. Often, when he was younger, Luke would have such vivid nightmares that left him crying in the middle of the night and many of those nightmares ended up coming true. Anakin didn't want his son to have that gift; the very cursed gift was what nearly caused Anakin to fall to the dark side and he didn't want that to happen to his son.

"You're up early," Anakin said sitting down beside his son.

"I couldn't sleep," Luke murmured.

"Nightmare?"

"I think it was a vision, Dad. It was too vivid to have been a simple dream. It was like those other ones I had when I was younger."

"What did you see?"

Luke was silent for a moment. "I saw a city, it was burning and there was someone watching the burning city but doing nothing to help and a lot of people were in pain, screaming."

Anakin shivered for that was identical to what he saw. "I saw the same thing. It was what woke me up too," he said.

"What could it mean, Dad?"

"I don't know, Son." Anakin placed a hand on Luke's shoulder before gently squeezing it. "Come on, Son. You should really get some sleep."

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep."

Anakin had the same problem with his nightmares. When Obi-Wan stopped his visions of his mother from happening, he managed to get a good night's sleep just as when he stopped the visions of Padmé's dying in childbirth. But he knew that it wouldn't help matters if they didn't, at least, try to get some rest.

"Just try, son. Try meditating."

The look Luke gave him caused him to chuckle. "I'm pretty sure I gave Obi-Wan the same look when he told me to meditate," he said before he ruffled his son's hair causing his son to scowl at him.

"Stop that," he said before he yawned. "I am pretty tired. The trip back to Coruscant was a long one."

Anakin patted his son's shoulder before watching as Luke stood up, stretched and started toward the room he shared with his sister, it was divided into two rooms, before he looked at Anakin over his shoulder. "Good night, Dad."

Anakin looked over at the chrono before saying, "More like good morning."

Luke chuckled and disappeared into his room.

Anakin watched him go before he turned his gaze to the sky as his thoughts, once again, drifted to his nightmare.

* * *

Ahsoka leaned back in her seat as the shuttle glided through the churning blue-white tunnel of hyperspace. Her eyes closed as she reached out into the Force; despite her master's dislike of meditation, Ahsoka had grown to like it. She had sometimes spent her time with her apprentice meditating in the Room of a Thousand Fountains when they weren't training in other methods.

Ahsoka thought about her apprentice. Mara Jade was brought to the Temple when she was older than was usually allowed. Though the Council had lifted the ban on familial relationships, they still didn't accept anyone over a certain age even though they allowed them to maintain contact with their family. However, Mara's parents didn't want her to join the Jedi Order but when they were killed when she was six and, since she had no other family to live with, the Jedi invited her to join the Order.

Ahsoka didn't know what drew her to Mara, what made her choose Mara as her apprentice. Mara had been ten when Ahsoka had chosen her as her apprentice and they had developed a friendship during the years they've been together though they had little in common. It made Ahsoka think of her own apprenticeship to Anakin though they had more in common than they had originally thought.

"Master?"

Ahsoka turned to find Mara standing in the cockpit of the ship. "Yes Mara?" she said.

"I finished looking up information on the Unknown Regions," Mara said sounding bored. "There wasn't much."

"I didn't think there was," Ahsoka admitted, "but it gave you something to do since there really isn't much else we can do. This ship isn't big enough for lightsaber training."

Mara handed her the datapad containing her findings before sitting down in the co-pilot's seat. "How long until we reach the Unknown Regions?" she asked.

Ahsoka turned in her seat before looking at the navicomputer to see the time of arrival. "A couple of hours," she said.

"So we're just going to see if the fleet's there and report back?" asked Mara.

Ahsoka nodded. "Mara, what do you think about what happened on Thustra and Bellassa?" She was curious because she knew that many didn't think the attacks were coincidences; there was no such thing as luck after all.

"They weren't coincidence," said Mara confirming that she believed the same thing Ahsoka did. "Stands to reason they're connected."

"While it's likely, we don't know for sure if they are," said Ahsoka.

"We should try to find them," said Mara.

"Easier said than done, Mara." Ahsoka turned to face the door leading into the cockpit as it opened and Obi-Wan walked into it with Kira just behind him.

"What's easier said than done?" Kira asked.

"Finding the dark Jedi," Ahsoka said.

"There's got to be some clues to where they are," said Mara.

"Jinn said that when the dark Jedi escaped, he had been ordered back to the ship and the dark Jedi on Bellassa stopped chasing Jenica. They might have taken precautions to make sure there were no clues to their whereabouts," Obi-Wan said.

"It's likely that they did," Ahsoka said.

A few hours later, Ahsoka was alerted that they were about to drop out of hyperspace and she brought herself from her doze. Taking the shuttle off autopilot, she pulled the hyperspace lever and the mottled lanes faded to starlines that in turn vanished to be replaced by real space. Ahsoka turned the scanners on because she couldn't see anything and she wondered if the fleet, if it was really there, was further in the system.

"Are we here?" Mara asked lifting her head.

"Yes we are," said Ahsoka. "But there's no fleet and the scanners are picking up anything. Then again, the scanners are only short-range so it could be further in system."

Mara stood up before stretching. "I'll go wake up Master Kenobi and Kira," she said before she left the cockpit.

Ahsoka turned her gaze to the viewport as the shuttle continued to glide through the silence of space though the scanners still didn't pick up anything. The Togruta wondered if Lirka was wrong about the fleet but that thought vanished when a chime signaling that the scanners had picked up something chimed.

Ahsoka glanced at the display screen and her eyes widened when she saw the many dots that represented ships that appeared on the screen. Despite the scanner's shot-range, it was still able to pick up ships before anyone could physically see them. Realizing that, Ahsoka stopped the shuttle to keep it from flying closer to the fleet.

Mara made her way back into the cockpit with Obi-Wan and Kira just behind her before she stopped when she saw the display. "Where'd they come from?" she asked.

"We must have gotten close enough for the scanners to find them," Ahsoka said worriedly. "But if we know they're here then they might know we're here."

"I believe this is enough proof that the fleet exists," Obi-Wan said. "Let's head back."

Ahsoka nodded in agreement before she began the sequence to make the jump back to hyperspace only to stop when she noticed that the fleet was moving—

_Toward _them.

"They know we're here," she said.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan said. "How long before the navicomputer can get the coordinates?"

"It shouldn't take too long and they're still far from us. We can travel in real space while we're waiting. That'll put some distance between—"

"I think that plan just went out the window, Master," Mara said.

Ahsoka followed Mara's gaze and shock went through her when she saw a squadron of starfighters flying toward them. Her eyes widened when she recognized the design. "Droid fighters!"

"I thought all the droid factories were found and shut down when the Separatists were disband," Kira said as she grabbed the back of Mara's chair when Ahsoka began to take evasive action to avoid the turbolaser fire that came toward them from the fighters.

"Apparently, we missed one," Obi-Wan said gripping the back of Ahsoka's chair as she spun to avoid more blasterfire. "Oh blast, this is why…"

"Yes, we all know you hate flying," Ahsoka said through gritted teeth as she did another corkscrew large eyes narrowing and lekku twitching in irritation when she noticed the fighters were fanning out to encircle her. "Blast it, we should have seen this coming."

"We weren't expecting droid fighters, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan said. "Representative Lirka never mentioned anything about fighters when she told Padmé about the rumors."

"They're preventing us from making the jump to hyperspace, Obi-Wan," Ahsoka said. "But they aren't trying to destroy us. If they were then we would be stardust by now."

"They were obviously programmed to not destroy us," said Obi-Wan.

"But why?" Mara said frowning. "I would've thought they'd kill us to prevent the Republic from learning about them."

"Speaking of that, send a quick message to the Council," Obi-Wan said.

Mara turned around in her seat before her fingers flew across the console and the hologram of Mace Windu appeared before them. "_Padawan Jade,_" Windu greeted her.

"Master Windu, we found the fleet on the edge of the Unknown Regions," Mara said without preamble.

"_So the rumors are true?_"

"Yes but we're being attacked by droid fighters."

"_Droid fighters? But we shut down all the droid factories when the Separatists were disbanded._"

"That's what Kira said, Master," said Mara.

"_Can you…jump…out of…_" Windu said but his speech was broken up and Ahsoka looked up while Mara scowled as Windu's hologram disappeared.

"They're jamming our transmissions," she said. "What do we do now?"

Ahsoka shook her head; she didn't know. "We need to get away from these fighters and make the jump to hyperspace," she said twisting the control yoke around to avoid another droid fighter.

Suddenly, the droid fighters pulled back and Ahsoka's eyes widened as a huge dreadnought suddenly appeared in front of her; its silver-gray hull devoid of battle scars though it didn't look as if it had just come from a shipyard. It looked old and yet it's obviously never seen signs of battle. "Oh blast, this isn't good," she said.

Suddenly, the shuttle shuddered violently and Ahsoka glanced sharply at the console before she began attempting to break free from the tractor beam's hold on the ship but it was futile.

"And this is worse," Kira said.

"Blast it, not again," Obi-Wan said at the same time ignoring the surprised looks Kira and Mara were giving him. Ahsoka didn't; she kept her eyes fixed on the dreadnought as it gradually drew closer.

* * *

Siri Tachi felt her husband's danger through their bond. It jolted her from her meditation and she, worried, reached out toward her husband. '_Obi-Wan, what's going on?_' she sent through the Force.

'_We found the fleet but they took us by surprise with droid fighters,_' Obi-Wan sent back.

Siri frowned. '_Droid fighters but I thought…_'

'_So did I, Siri, but we, apparently, missed one. And they've got us caught in a tractor beam,_' Obi-Wan replied.

'_I'm surprised they didn't kill you on sight,_' Siri admitted though she was relieved that her husband and her daughter were all right for the time being.

'_If they wanted us dead then they would have killed us already. No, whoever controls this fleet wants us alive. I wish I knew why._'

'_I wish I knew too, Obi-Wan._'

"Mom?" Jinn said breaking Siri out of her conversation with her husband. She blinked before looking over at her son who stood in the doorway leading to her room; worry drifted off him in tendrils and Siri knew that Kira had likely filled him in on what happened.

"I've already told Uncle Anakin what happened," Jinn said as Siri stood up and walked over to join her son. "He and Luke are already waiting outside the Council Chamber."

Siri led the way out of the apartment and toward the chamber and Jinn fell into step beside her. "What I'm wondering is why didn't they kill them when they arrived?" Jinn asked after they walked in silence for a while.

Siri shook her head. "This is getting more confusing with each new thing that happens," she said.

Jinn nodded in agreement.

They reached the Council Chamber to find Anakin pacing while Luke watched him. Luke noticed them first and then Anakin lifted his head. "Did you learn anything from Obi-Wan, Siri?" he asked.

"No more than what you know," Siri said before she felt the summons from the Council and led the way into the Council chamber with her son, Anakin and Luke just behind her.

The Jedi Council members who were present looked grave. Yoda was the first one to speak. "Confirmed that true the rumors are but expect this we did not," he said closing his eyes. "Feel the dark side I do. Clouded the future is."

Anakin frowned. "I thought that cloud was lifted when I killed Palpatine," he said.

"Back it is," said Yoda. "Feel it I do."

"Could it be those dark Jedi, Master Yoda?" Jinn asked.

"Possible it is. However, centered not only on the fleet this feeling is but also on Coruscant."

"On Coruscant? You mean there's a dark Jedi here?" Luke said. "Wouldn't we have sensed him?"

"Coruscant's a big planet, son," Anakin said, "and he could have shielded his presence."

"Why would he reveal himself now then?" Siri asked.

"Know that I do not. Know only that revealed to be on Coruscant, a dark Jedi has been. Here for a purpose, this dark Jedi is."

"We need to find this dark Jedi. He's on Coruscant for a reason," said Windu.

"What about Dad?" Jinn asked.

"Take care of himself Obi-Wan can, Padawan," Yoda said.

"But…?"

"Master Yoda's right, Jinn," Anakin said. "I'm worried too but we have our own problem to deal with here on Coruscant. We need to find this dark Jedi before he does something. Besides, it's not like Obi-Wan's alone."

"You're right," Jinn said though it didn't sound like he really liked it. "So what do we do now?"

"Find this dark Jedi we must," Yoda said.

"Where do we begin to look?" Luke asked with a frown. "He could be _anywhere_."

"Be patient we must. Find him with the Force we can."

Jinn had his eyes closed and Siri could feel him reaching out with the Force. She could sense that the rest were doing the same thing hoping to find the dark Jedi and she found herself wondering the same thing Luke was wondering; why did the dark Jedi reveal himself?

"The Senate Building," Anakin said eyes snapping open.

"But why would they go to the Senate Building?" Luke said also opening his eyes. "I thought the dark Jedi told Jenica he wanted to destroy the Jedi."

"Jenica also said that the dark Jedi told her that he wanted to succeed in what Palpatine failed to do, son, and Palpatine wanted to take over the Republic," said Anakin. "That could be why this dark Jedi is at the Senate Building."

"Send someone to the Senate Building we will," Yoda said.

"Luke and I can go," Anakin said.

Yoda looked over at him before nodding and adding, "Warn Chancellor Mothma someone must as well."

"I can contact Leia," Luke said already pulling out his comlink. "She's likely with the Chancellor now."

"I swear that girl is more stubborn than your mother," Anakin muttered.

"And you aren't stubborn, right?" Luke said teasingly as he dialed his sister's frequency.

"Not at all," Anakin said.

"And banthas can also fly," Jinn said.

Anakin glared at him. "You got that from your father," he muttered.

Jinn smirked.

"Leia, are you with the Chancellor?" Luke was saying into his comlink.

"_Yes I'm with her, Luke. What's the matter?_" Leia's voice asked.

"We don't know exactly but we're sensing a dark Jedi at the Senate Building."

"_I sensed him too. I've already told Mon about him but he isn't anywhere near her office,_" Leia said. "_We don't want to tip of the dark Jedi that we know where he is though so I told Mon not to tell anyone._"

"Probably a good idea," Anakin said. "We're heading over there now to try to find him."

"_Do you think it's the same one who attacked Mom?_" Leia asked.

"That or the same one who attacked Jenica," Luke said.

"I suggest you stay where you are, Leia," Anakin said.

"_I wasn't planning on leaving,_" Leia said. "_Mon has a lot of stuff for me to do anyway. Be careful, Dad, Luke._"

"We will, Leia, don't worry," Luke said before he disconnected the transmission and put the comlink away.

"Come on, Luke. Let's go catch us a dark Jedi," Anakin said with a small smile.

Luke smiled back.

"Masters." Anakin inclined his head to the Council before he and Luke left the chamber.

"I still don't understand why the dark Jedi revealed himself," Siri said with a frown. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't reveal himself like this if he wanted an attack on the Senate to succeed."

"More at play there is," Yoda said gravelly.

"It seems odd that Obi-Wan happens to be captured around the same time that we sense a dark Jedi on Coruscant. It seems we keep running into all of these coincidences. I am convinced that all of this is connected somehow," Windu said.

"It is odd that all of these sets of coincidences occurred one after another," Siri said. "I agree, Master Windu. Everything's that's happened has to be connected somehow but how?"

"Perhaps the dark Jedi are the key," Stass Allie said.

"Possible it is," Yoda said. "Very possible."

* * *

**A/n what do you think?**

**Darth: assassination attempts in the first chapter, capture and attack in the second chapter, what's next?**

**Blaze: yeah, I know but I like getting to the action quickly**

**Darth: master of understatement**

**Blaze: (pushes Darth into pool of sherbet)**

**Darth: YUM!**

**Blaze: (rolls eyes)**

**Anakin: what's going to happen in the next chapter?**

**Blaze: a look into Sicarius's POV as well as the dark Jedi Jinn fought and Sicarius's apprentice. Just a note, the dark Jedi Jinn fought and Sicarius's apprentice are **_**NOT **_**the same person (I don't think I made that clear in the story).**

**Darth: maybe that's just you**

**Blaze: maybe. Please review, they are much appreciated, and I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Thank you to the 10 people who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are the greatest and here is chapter 3 and yes there are OCs in this story (more because I don't know of who I can use as the captains now that the whole timeline's changed and all that). I hope that you like it.**

_**Chapter 3**_

Obi-Wan watched as the shuttle drew closer to the dreadnought. He could feel the dark side within the dreadnought and knew that a dark Jedi, whether it was the one who attacked Padmé or the one who attacked Jenica he didn't know, was onboard. It was eerily similar to when the _Millennium Falcon_ first approached the Death Star in the timeline Obi-Wan had changed.

Obi-Wan still remembered that timeline; he couldn't forget it no matter how much he wanted to. However, the current predicament they were in could not be solved the same way it was in the old timeline mainly because of the fact that the shuttle didn't have secret smuggling compartments like the _Millennium Falcon_ and because it was possible the people onboard the dreadnought weren't looking specifically for anything.

However, Obi-Wan still didn't know what the dark Jedi onboard the dreadnought wanted with them and why they didn't destroy the shuttle on sight.

"Dad, what do we do?" asked Kira. "There's a dark Jedi onboard that ship."

"I know, Kira," Obi-Wan said.

"Well, whatever they want with us, I'm not going to let them take me without a fight," Mara said firmly gripping the hilt of her lightsaber.

"There are alternatives to fighting," Obi-Wan murmured.

"What alternatives, Obi-Wan?" Ahsoka said.

Obi-Wan looked at the Togruta. "They obviously wanted us alive. Perhaps we should simply let them take us. It's not like this would be the first time we've had to escape," he said.

Mara sighed. "I don't like just giving myself up," she said as she reluctantly removed her hand from her lightsaber.

"It seems we have little choice. We don't know what we're facing and it wouldn't be a good idea to fight something we don't know the first thing about."

Ahsoka turned her gaze to the viewports as the shuttle was pulled into the hangar bay and Obi-Wan followed her gaze. The hangar bay wasn't empty though and Obi-Wan could see men and women in uniform and armor walking around though some of them weren't entirely human. They each held weapons in their hands though and walked briskly toward the shuttle.

"They're asking us to open the channel, master," Mara said looking at the console. "Should I?"

"I think we should," said Obi-Wan. "They might fire on the shuttle if we don't. Besides, this might be our only chance at figuring out who is behind this entire thing."

Ahsoka nodded in agreement and Mara, taking that as her answer, flicked the comm switch on.

"_Jedi_," a curt voice sounded on the other side of the comm. "_You are completely surrounded. Lower your boarding ramp and be prepared to be taken into custody._"

"What right do you have to arrest us?" Ahsoka demanded.

"_You are in no position to question us, Jedi,_" the voice said. "_Lower your boarding ramp._"

Ahsoka gritted her teeth but Obi-Wan placed a hand on her shoulder and cautiously shook his head. The Togruta nodded slowly. "Very well," she said to the voice. "We will not put up a fight. Lowering our boarding ramp now." She cut the transmission before looking at Obi-Wan.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Obi-Wan," she said softly.

Obi-Wan did too.

The group that entered the ship was composed of humans and the blue-skinned near humans Obi-Wan had seen in the hangar bay. The human at the head of the group was tall with dark hair with a blaster in his hands as he strode forward and his companions ranged out around him.

"Hand over your weapons," the human said though he didn't point his blaster at the group.

"We do not want trouble," Obi-Wan said calmly.

"Oh I don't either," the human said with a shrug. "But Lord Sicarius wants to meet all of you and he does not desire to get attacked by you Jedi."

_Sicarius?_ Obi-Wan looked over at Ahsoka but he could see that she was just as confused as he was. Kira and Mara were in the same boat though Mara was watching the soldiers with narrowed eyes. "And who is Lord Sicarius?" he asked.

"You will know soon enough, Jedi. Now hand over your lightsabers."

Obi-Wan decided that it would be best if he did as he was told. They were outnumbered. While they could defeat the small contingent of soldiers on the shuttle, getting away from the dreadnought without getting fired on by the droid fighters or the dreadnought itself would be even harder than simply escaping when they least expected it.

Half of the contingent had gone behind the four Jedi and Obi-Wan could feel the muzzle of the blaster pressed against his back. Judging by the look in Ahsoka's eyes and the feeling of frustration that came off Kira and Mara, he figured the same thing was happening to them.

"I don't like this," Mara said.

"You and me both," Kira said but they handed over their lightsabers as Obi-Wan and Ahsoka did as well. The soldiers took them and the human stepped back before gesturing to a few of the soldiers.

"Stun cuff them," he ordered and, once all four were stun cuffed, he said, "Let's move."

The contingent, with their Jedi prisoners, left the shuttle and headed down the curving corridor of the dreadnought toward the detention center.

* * *

Darth Sicarius meditated, immersing himself in the power the dark side of the Force provided. He was currently in his meditation chambers searching through the Force for glimpses of the future; he had been taught that it was possible to see the future if one looked deep enough into the Force. So far, Sicarius wasn't as lucky as Palpatine had been but he did get brief glimpses though not enough to discern what those glimpses were trying to tell him.

He did know that the four Jedi he had sensed enter the system were onboard the _Katana._ They were being guided toward the detention center; he could feel their Force presences and he could sense that they were powerful and sickeningly light. However, what he didn't like was that they had found the fleet as quickly as they had and he didn't know how.

He was determined to find that out when he interrogated the four Jedi.

The door to the room slid open and Sicarius opened his eyes as he recognized the Force presence of his apprentice. "Master?" his apprentice said kneeling down and lowering her head. "The four Jedi are in the detention center."

"I know," Sicarius said. "What I wish to know is how they found out about the fleet as quickly as they did?"

"The Supreme Commander suggests that the Sephi we found at the edge of the system informed the representative of Thustra and she, in turn, told Senator Skywalker when she arrived."

"Ah yes, Senator Skywalker, the senator Sariss failed to kill."

"She tried her best, Master, but there were two Jedi with her."

"Two Padawans if my sources are correct," Sicarius corrected her. "But then, I should have expected failure. Sariss is barely an apprentice herself and yet I would prefer not to have to worry about Senator Skywalker."

"What's so important about Senator Skywalker, master?" his apprentice asked.

"Simple, she was one of the biggest thorns in Palpatine's side and is the wife of Anakin Skywalker. You know who he is, yes?"

"Everyone knows Anakin Skywalker. He's the one who killed Palpatine."

Sicarius nodded. "Yes and yet he is also the most powerful Jedi in the entire Jedi Order," he said.

"Don't tell me you're thinking of trying to turn him as Palpatine did." His apprentice sounded part-bemused, part-irritated and part-angry as if she feared that Sicarius wanted to replace her with him.

Which he wasn't.

"Don't be ridiculous, Lady Lumiya," Sicarius said standing up and turning around to face his apprentice who lifted her head to gaze at him. "Skywalker may have the power but turning him would be much too difficult. It would be interesting to see if I could succeed whereas Palpatine failed though."

He turned his gaze away from Lumiya as he thought about that possibility but decided to shelve it for later. He had other plans he needed to accomplish. "I have a mission for you, Lady Lumiya."

"What is it, my master?"

"I want to go to Corellia. Your mission is to assassinate Senator Garm Bel Iblis. No matter what, make sure Bel Iblis dies no matter what you have to do to do this," Sicarius ordered.

"Why him, Master?"

"He is very influential and a close friend of the current Chancellor. His death will accomplish what I wish to accomplish; informing the Senate and the Jedi that I am serious. I will leave you to your own devices. Also, before you leave out, I want you to contact Sariss and tell her that she must make the supposed attack on the Senate look authentic."

Lumiya inclined her head. "Yes Master," she said. "I shall leave at once." She bowed her head before standing up, turning around and striding out of the meditation chamber.

Sicarius watched her go before he also left the chamber and headed toward the detention center to interrogate his Jedi prisoners.

Captain Rias saluted as Sicarius joined him. "They have been quiet since they were brought here my lord," he said.

"I figured as much. I can sense they are curious about me. You are dismissed captain. Inform the Supreme Commander that I shall meet with him after I finish speaking to our 'guests'."

"Yes my lord." Rias saluted again before he walked away while Sicarius made his way over to the cell where the four Jedi had been placed.

The cell door slide open at his request and he stepped into the dimly lit room, eyes examine the four Jedi. The older of the four was very familiar but then he had been very famous during the Clone Wars and Sicarius heard and saw him multiple times on the Holonet during the course of the war. It was Obi-Wan Kenobi; the Negotiator and the mentor of the very Jedi who killed Palpatine. The other three Sicarius didn't know by name though he did recognize the Togruta from the Holonet as well, Skywalker's apprentice during the wars if he remembered correctly.

Kenobi's eyes fluttered open, he had been meditating when Sicarius walked in, and he looked calmly at the Sith Lord. "You must be Sicarius," he said eyes narrowed.

"I have a few questions for you," Sicarius said not responding to the Jedi's words as he folded his arms across his chest. "And you will answer them."

"You think so, do you?" the Togruta said with a slight curl of her lip. "We're not telling you anything."

The red-head apprentice nodded in agreement.

Sicarius simply gazed at the four of them lips curling into a small smile. "Somehow, I knew you would say that but that just means I can get the answers I want the hard, more satisfying way."

* * *

Sariss crouched in the shadows of the atrium within the Senate building eyes scanning the area for the Jedi. She had come to Coruscant hoping to succeed whereas she failed on Thustra but Lady Lumiya had contacted her and told her to alter her plans. She was to let her presence be known so as to make the Jedi believe she was launching an attack on the Senate. During that time, she was supposed to hide her presence and escape the building while the Jedi were distracted with the supposed attack to slip into the Jedi Temple.

Lumiya had told her that failure was not going to be appreciated by Lord Sicarius and Sariss was determined to not fail as she had on Thustra.

She sensed the two Force presences as they neared the Senate and she, sticking to the shadows of the building, made her way toward the entrance. Lumiya had told her that Sicarius wanted her to make the supposed attack on the Senate seem authentic and she had managed to do just that soon after she revealed her Force presence. She wondered at the altered plan though and how it had come so soon after she had revealed her presence at the Senate.

Shaking her head, Sariss waited until she could sense the Jedi had just entered the Senate building before she turned her head toward the other end of the atrium where the explosives were located. The explosion wouldn't be big enough to destroy the building but would be enough to make an attack look authentic. She pulled out the detonator before slipping closer to the entrance to the building as two similar looking Jedi, their Force presence was brilliant and light, walked into the building.

When they stretched out with the Force, Sariss hid her Force presence though she swore when she noticed the younger of the two glance in her direction and she realized she hadn't hid it quickly enough. The younger Jedi nudged his companion who turned to look at him and Sariss recognized him immediately.

Anakin Skywalker.

Sariss thinned her lips. _Okay, time to draw their attention away from me,_ she thought before she activated the explosives. She ducked down as the explosion sent shockwaves through the atrium, columns fell, dust rose up and Senators and aides screamed. Sariss used the distraction to dash out of the Senate building.

She watched as clones dressed in full armor moved toward the Senate building as she drew the hood of her cloak over her head. She dashed toward the speeder she had used to reach the Senate building before she leapt into it, started it and flew away from the building as fast as she could.

She glanced over her shoulder and was thankful to see that she wasn't being chases. Those two Jedi must not have seen her leave and likely thought she was still inside the Senate building. She turned her gaze back to the airlanes in front of her as she swerved around another speeder and continued her journey to the Jedi Temple in the distance.

Reaching the Jedi Temple, Sariss landed the speeder a half mile from the ziggurat before she leapt out of it. Getting into the Temple was going to be the hard part but Sariss had a plan. All she needed to do was get close enough to the Temple without getting caught and put her plan into action.

* * *

Luke knelt beside the Rodian aide who had been unfortunate enough to be near the columns that were exploded and was trapped beneath one of the falling blocks of stone. Thankfully, it had only landed on his arm so he wasn't in danger of dying. Using the Force, Luke lifted the block off the Rodian's arm before helping him to his feet.

The Rodian thanked him before being guided away by the medic who had come into the atrium with the contingent of clones. Luke stood up before scanning the rubble looking for anyone else but he couldn't see anyone. He glanced toward where he had sensed the dark Jedi right before he hid his Force presence but he couldn't see anyone. He figured the dark Jedi left in the middle of the chaos after the explosion.

"Any idea where he could have gone?" his father asked walking to his side and following his gaze.

"No idea," Luke said. "He probably left right after the explosion."

"Why leave though?" Anakin said with a frown. "What was the point of this? The explosion didn't injure anyone besides that Rodian and I think he was only injured because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time." His lips pressed together and his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Could it have been a distraction?" Luke asked.

"Possible, great I'm starting to sound like Obi-Wan, but a distraction for what?"

Luke shrugged. He didn't know. "We should probably contact the Temple and tell them."

Anakin pulled out his comlink and, after a moment, Master Windu's voice drifted over it. "_Windu,_" Windu said.

"Master Windu," Anakin said.

"_Skywalker, we heard the explosion. What happened?_"

"Not sure exactly. We sensed the dark Jedi was here and Luke pinpointed his location just before the explosion went off."

"The dark Jedi hid his presence right before that happened too," said Luke.

"And Luke suggested that it might have been a distraction though we don't know why especially since that was the only attack."

Windu was silent for a long moment. "_Was anyone injured?_"

"Only a Rodian aide," Luke said.

"_Very well. If the dark Jedi has hidden his Force presence then finding him now will not be easy especially since we don't know what he's going to do next. Stay at the Senate for now just in case the dark Jedi comes back,_" Windu ordered.

"Yes Master Windu." Anakin disconnected the transmission and put the comlink away before looking at Luke. "Let's go find Leia."

Luke nodded and Anakin walked over to join one of the clones. "Rex, do you have everything taken care of here?" he asked.

The clone glanced at Anakin and saluted before nodding. "I do, General," he said.

Anakin nodded though Luke glanced at him curiously. "Why does he still call you General?" he asked as they walked toward the turbolift.

Anakin shrugged. "I think it's ingrained in him," he said. "He, like all of his brothers, was bred to call the Jedi by title. I've been trying to get him to stop since the war ended but it hasn't worked.

Luke chuckled.

The two of them stepped into the turbolift before riding it to the top floor where the Chancellor's office was located. They walked down the corridor watching the clones who stood guard in front of the door leading into the office. They straightened when they spotted the two Jedi before saluting and stepping aside to allow the two Jedi inside.

Chancellor Mon Mothma lifted her head to look at Luke and Anakin. At her side with a datapad in her hands was Leia who put the datapad down and walked over to join them. "What happened?" she asked.

Anakin gave her a brief description of what the dark Jedi did finishing with, "but he left before we could find him most likely during the chaos the supposed attack created."

"So this attack wasn't aimed at the Senate?" Mon Mothma asked with a frown.

"I don't think so. Luke thinks it was a distraction but for what, we don't know."

"What could this dark Jedi possibly gain by staging an attack on the Senate?" Leia wondered aloud.

"I don't know."

"It doesn't make any sense," Leia murmured.

Mon Mothma narrowed her eyes. "If it was a distraction then it's possible that it was to draw the Jedi to the Senate building. You did say that the dark Jedi left during the chaos yes?"

Luke nodded.

Leia looked thoughtful. "If the Jedi are focused on an attack on the Senate then that means they won't be paying attention entirely to other matters or other places."

"Where else would a dark Jedi target other than the Senate?" Mon Mothma asked.

"Could he be targeting the Temple, Dad?" Luke asked suddenly realizing that was one thing that they hadn't thought of. If the dark Jedi was trying to draw the Jedi's attention to the Senate Building then that meant they wouldn't be paying attention to the Temple entirely. It was far-fetched but it was possible.

"It's possible," said Anakin, "but just because the Jedi are focused on the Senate right now doesn't mean they're going to stop paying attention to affairs in and around the Temple. But I remember a time when a bounty hunter by the name of Cad Bane initiated a distraction inside the Temple itself to draw attention away from the fact that he was attempting to steal a holocron."

"So the dark Jedi could have done that too," Leia said. "But instead of a distraction inside the Temple, he used the Senate. But why? Why didn't he just do what Cad Bane did?"

"Possibly because he knows of what happened then and knew that we might be expecting that," Anakin suggested. "Either way, we can't know for sure they are targeting the Temple. I'll contact Master Windu and let him know of your suspicions Luke." He pulled out his comlink and walked away to talk with Windu.

Luke looked over at Leia. "So looking forward to taking a break when Chancellor Mothma leaves office?" he asked.

Leia smiled. "I'm probably not going to take that long of a break," she said. "The Senate has already decided to ask Mom to run for the Chancellorship and I want to take over as Senator for Naboo."

Luke smiled. His sister has always wanted to be a Senator despite her age but, considering her love of politics and who their mother was and what their mother taught her, he was sure she would be a wonderful Senator.

* * *

Sariss pulled the comlink to her lips as she gazed up at the shielded transparisteel viewports near the holocron vault. After hearing of how Cad Bane had managed to infiltrate the Temple using this method, she decided to try it more because she couldn't come up with another way that wasn't likely to get her caught by the Jedi. It was risky pulling the same thing Bane pulled and there was a chance she wouldn't succeed but she had to try. Perhaps Lady Lumiya and Lord Sicarius will be willing to pardon her for her failure on Thustra if she succeeds here.

"_Deactivation of the shield is commencing now,_" the voice at the other end of the comlink said. "_Be quick though, Master. The shield will only be down for thirty five point three five seconds._"

"Understood," Sariss said rolling her eyes at the exact calculations but what else could she expect from a droid?

Sneaking a droid into the Jedi Temple had been a lot easier than Sariss had thought though she supposed it helped that Force sensitives couldn't sense droids. However, the droid was only supposed to deactivate the shield, allow Sariss to get inside and then detonate. It was even more risky pulling a distraction within the Temple just as Cad Bane had done since that was another thing the Jedi might be expecting but Sariss was hoping that the distraction within the Temple coupled with the distraction at the Senate Building would take them by surprise.

She watched as the shield shimmered before fading and then she pulled herself onto the ledge. She ignited her lightsaber and sank it into the transparisteel before cutting a circle big enough for her to get inside. She then slipped through the hole and replaced the transparisteel before looking around as the shield came back up followed by a disturbance that Sariss figured was the droid detonating.

She found herself in a ventilation shaft and she activated the holographic map of the ventilation system of the Jedi Temple that the droid had sent her when it first arrived in the Temple. Quickly determining the quickest route to the holocron vault, Sariss took off.

Her destination wasn't the holocron vault per say. She was under orders to retrieve a holocron, yes, but not one in the regular holocron vault. She was ordered to retrieve one of the Sith holocrons that the Jedi have acquired over the years. That was going to prove a challenge because the schematics showed that the Sith holocrons were located in a vault _beneath_ the regular holocron vault.

Sariss pressed her lips together as she shut off the map and continued making her way through the maze that was the Jedi Temple's ventilation system. _Getting into the vault is probably going to be as hard as getting out of the Temple all together,_ she thought.

Briefly, she wondered if she would run into that Jedi Padawan she fought on Thustra but decided that it was unlikely. Her presence was hidden and she doubted that the Jedi knew she was there. They knew _someone_ was inside the Temple but Sariss was sure that they didn't know it was her.

_Do not assume unless you are positive,_ Lumiya's words echoed in Sariss's mind. She knew the Sith was right but she also knew that she couldn't delay her mission.

She would not fail her masters again.

* * *

It was the explosion that drew Jinn out of his quarters. He had been meditating in the quarters he shared with his mother keeping in contact with Kira and trying hard not to think about what she was being put through. He could feel that she was in pain and yet she stubbornly refused to answer any of the questions that were being directed at her.

It hurt him to know his sister and his father were in pain and yet he could do nothing about it. He also knew that his mother was having a hard time not thinking about it either since she could feel it through her bond with his father. She looked afraid and angry at the same time when it first began but she managed to gain control of it, just as Jinn had though it still hurt.

_Blasted Sith,_ Kira's voice hissed in Jinn's mind as he made his way down the corridor following the flood of Jedi as they hurried toward the source of the explosion. There had been a disturbance during the explosion and since Jinn and the Jedi in the quarters around Jinn were close to the explosion and so were heading toward it to see if they could help.

_What's happening?_ Jinn asked.

_What's happening over there? I just sensed your urgency and your concern,_ Kira said.

Jinn told her about the explosion and the disturbance. _I don't know if it's dealing with the disturbance or not though,_ he thought.

_Could it have something to deal with the dark Jedi that attacked the Senate?_ Jinn had told Kira about that the instant he learned about it. He had only learned about it because it had spread throughout the holonet almost as soon as the reporters arrived on the scene, which wasn't that long after the clones and Anakin and Luke. Plus, he had sensed the disturbance and where it was localized. Still, he hadn't thought that the attack on the Senate would be connected with this.

_Why do you say that?_

_Remember what we learned about the time Cad Bane infiltrated the Temple and stole that holocron? _Kira asked.

Jinn remembered that. It was a story that he and Kira were told when they learned about the vault and had thought it was impossible to steal from. _What does that got to do with this?_ He thought.

_Don't be so dense, baby brother. Surely you can at least hazard _some_ sort of guess of what could possibly be happening,_ Kira said.

Jinn thought about it and stopped walking with a frown. _Do you think whoever caused this is trying to steal from the holocron vault again?_ He thought.

_Possibly,_ Kira said before, sounding irritated, she added, _Wonderful, Sicarius is back and most likely going to attempt to get us to answer his questions even though he has already failed._

Jinn winced knowing full well what was going to happen. _Be careful, Kira,_ he thought.

_You too, baby brother._

Jinn wondered if he was right. Just as Kira said, it was possible that whoever caused the explosion was going after the holocron vault. Why, he didn't know but it was possible. He decided that he would go to the Temple archives and tell Madame Nu about his suspicions.

When he reached the archives, he looked around for Nu. He didn't see her though he did see the dark-haired form of Galen Marek, Mace's apprentice, sitting at one of the terminals. He walked over to join the other Padawan, as Galen was the only one in the archives that he could see.

Galen looked up having sensed is presence. "Hello Jinn," he greeted him.

"Galen, do you know where Madame Nu is?" Jinn asked.

Galen shook his head as he turned his gaze away from the screen. "I last saw her heading toward the holocron vault. Why?"

Jinn told him about the explosion. "It just seems odd that an explosion would occur here so soon after what happened at the Senate building and there was a dark Jedi at the Senate building."

"You think the dark Jedi's after a holocron?"

"It's possible. Cad Bane pulled something similar to this."

"The dark Jedi isn't likely to pull something like that especially if he knows about what Bane did. Still, it's possible. Let's go find Madame Nu and let her know." Galen shut down the terminal before he made his way toward the holocron vault and Jinn fell into step beside him.

"Weren't you doing something though?" he asked.

Galen shook his head. "Master Windu left me with an assignment while he was in a council meeting and I already finished it so I wasn't doing anything important," he said.

Jinn nodded. He didn't mind the company. He walked toward the entrance to the holocron vault with Galen at his side wincing when he felt Kira's pain and wished that he was there and could help her in some way.

* * *

**A/n what do you think?**

**Blaze: Galen's character is going to be hard to keep in character but he is going to be a main character 'cause all of my favorite characters end up being main characters in my stories**

**Darth: yup and poor Kira and them. And you actually brought in Lumiya?**

**Blaze: yup, she's another character that I'm going to have a hard time keeping in character so forgive me if she and Galen both seem OOC.**

**Luke: what's going to happen in the next chapter?**

**Blaze: a confrontation, an escape, well actually two escapes, another vision and an offer**

**Galen: that's not very informative**

**Anakin: we're talking about Blaze here. We're lucky we got that**

**Galen: good point**

**Blaze: so yeah that was chapter 3 and I hope that you liked it. Oh and the first chapter of **_**Album **_**is in the works right now and will be posted the instant it is finished. (I'll do my best to finish it by this weekend.) Reviews, as always, are much appreciated and if I can get ten reviews or more then I will be beyond happy! So please review 'cause reviews make authors happy! :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Thank you to the 7 people who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are the greatest. Also, the vault used in this chapter (the one beneath the holocron vault) is completely fabricated, created for the purpose of this story. Here is chapter 4 and I hope that you like this chapter.**

_**Chapter 4**_

Sariss had managed to reach the circular hallway between the first security door and the second one with security lasers that, based on the information she learned about the Temple, could detect movement and sound alarms. Peering at the lasers, Sariss silently thanked the droid for sending her information on how to disable the laser grid without triggering any alarms.

She sensed two more Jedi approaching the entrance to the vault and she swore realizing she was running out of time. She dropped to the ground near the grid before walking over to the panel in front of it and removing its cover. Having memorized the pattern needed to disable the grid, she turned off the laser grid before pausing but no alarms sounded telling her that the droid's information had been correct.

Before she entered the vault, though, her comlink went off, a quiet buzz that only she could hear and she pulled it out before activating it. "Yes?" she said softly.

"_Sariss,_" Lumiya's voice sounded at the other end. "_I'll be quick. After you retrieve the holocron, you are to come join me on Corellia. I've got a plan to carry out my most recent orders from Lord Sicarius but I will need a distraction and that is where you come in. I am sending you the name and coordinates for your target. I want you there in three days. Do not be late._"

"Yes my lady," she said before she downloaded the information Lumiya had sent her onto a datachip, tucked the datachip away and disconnected the transmission.

She then made her way to the holocron vault using the Force to open it before slipping into it. There was a soft blue glow that came from the many holocrons embedded in the shelves that lined the floor. Sariss, closing the door to the vault behind her she made her way down an aisle gazing around for the entrance to the vault beneath the one she was in.

Pulling out the schematic of the Temple again, Sariss noticed there was a door in the southwest corner of the vault and she headed toward it. She moved as swiftly and as quietly as possible; the last thing she wanted was to alert the three Jedi she sensed to her presence, which was why she was limiting her uses of the Force. She could only hope her use of the Force to open the vault hadn't alerted the Jedi to her presence.

When she reached the doorway, she used the Force to open it only to find herself faced with another laser grid. She doubted that the laser grid could be turned off the same way the one leading into the regular vault had been. She swore under her breath as she glared at the laser grid before she glanced over her shoulder when she sensed that the three Jedi had been joined by a fourth one. She had a view of the entrance to the vault and so could see the durasteel doors sliding open.

_They must have sensed my use of the Force,_ she thought irritated before she stepped away from the door closer to the laser grid and it slid closed behind her. She glared at the grid again before she thought quickly about what to do. She glanced toward the floor and found herself wondering if she could get to the vault by cutting a hole in the floor. It would activate the alarms but, unless she can figure out how to turn off the laser grid before the Jedi reach her, it was her only option.

_I'll just have to be really quick and avoid them at all costs. It's a good thing they won't be able to track me with the Force so long as I don't use it anymore since my presence is still hidden,_ she thought as she ignited her lightsaber and sank it into the floor. Just as she expected, the instant the blade punctured the floor, the alarms began blaring. She ignored them as she carved a circle in the floor before removing the durasteel plug and dropping down into the vault below.

Unlike in the vault above, the glow from the holocrons was a muted red and she could feel tendrils of the dark side drifting off the holocrons. She drifted among them fingers brushing them until she could find the one her masters wanted her to grab. She was told that she would recognize the holocron when she came across it and it wasn't long before she found it.

She removed the holocron from the shelf before gazing at it. She didn't know who the holocron belonged to only that it was a Sith Lord because her masters refused to tell her. Tucking the holocron into her cloak, she dashed toward a corner when she felt the presence of the Jedi who had entered the vault. She peered at the Jedi; in the light of the Sith holocrons, the Jedi was tall and muscular though Sariss was too far away to make out any defining features.

She waited until the Jedi had walked past her hiding spot before she dashed toward the hole she had made. She jumped through it before dashing out into the vault pressing against one of the shelves and gazing around but she couldn't see anyone. She briefly remembered from the information she garnered about the Temple that only Jedi Masters who were on the Council were allowed in the vault. That didn't mean there weren't other Masters in the vault.

Drawing the hood of her cloak over her head, Sariss dashed toward entrance before pressing against the wall and peering into the security hall. There was no one there and she dashed into it before leaping into the mouth of the ventilation shaft not noticing it when her comlink fell. She then dashed down the shaft as she prepared herself to tackle her next greatest challenge.

Getting _out_ of the Jedi Temple without getting caught.

* * *

Kira groaned glaring at the back of the Sith Lord as he walked out of the room. The Sith Lord was furious at the lack of answers he was receiving form the four Jedi but Kira didn't know how long she could last under the onslaught of Force lightning. It hurt more than she wanted to admit out loud and she knew that she wasn't the only one who felt that way. A full day had gone by since their capture and Kira wasn't sure how much longer she could last.

"Blasted Sith," Mara growled pushing herself to her feet, her fiery red hair falling over her face and her emerald green eyes glistening in pain. She and Kira had taken the worse of it as Sicarius decided to start with them in an attempt to convince their masters to answer his questions. Though it obviously pained Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to see them in pain, they still remained stubbornly silent.

"How do you feel, Kira?" Obi-Wan asked softly moving to her side and helping her into a sitting position. His gray-blue eyes glistened with worry but his face and posture remained calm.

"Been better," Kira said.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Ahsoka.

Obi-Wan leaned against the cool durasteel wall behind them as he transferred his gaze from Kira to the closed durasteel door. "Escaping here is going to be the tough part especially because we could get trapped in the tractor beam or fired on by the droid fighters."

"If the droid fighters were recalled after we were captured then we'd just have to deal with the tractor beam. Scrambling the fighters would take some time," Ahsoka said.

"And if they don't know we've escaped until the last possible moment, we will stand a better chance at getting far enough away from the dreadnought to make the jump to hyperspace. The trick is getting that far before they scramble their fighters," said Obi-Wan.

"What about getting out of this cell?" Mara asked.

Obi-Wan grimaced. "If Sicarius wasn't onboard then it would be easy but if we use the Force to open the doors then Sicarius will sense it and that will limit the time we have to get out of here."

"So what do we do?" asked Ahsoka. "We don't have our lightsabers. I suppose we could use the Force against Sicarius when he next comes but he might be expecting that."

"Whether he's expecting that or not, I want to try it," Mara said. "Anything's better than just sitting here and getting blasted by Force lightning every time we refuse to answer his questions."

Kira nodded in agreement. "If we attack at the same time then we might get the advantage," she said.

"It's risky," said Obi-Wan. "But it might be our only chance. We're going to need to figure out how to keep the rest of the ship from learning about this though to give me enough time to find the tractor beam and turn it off."

"Wait, who said you were going after the tractor beam?" Kira demanded.

Obi-Wan smiled a little. "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to do this," he said. Kira wondered at that but decided that she would ask her father about it later when they managed to escape.

"I'm going with you," she said.

"No," Obi-Wan said with a shake of his head. "I want you to stay with Ahsoka and Mara. I can handle this myself and I'll meet you in the hangar bay okay?"

Kira had a bad feeling about all of this and she said as much out loud.

Obi-Wan placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it. "I'll be fine, Kira," he said softly.

"He's coming back," Mara said a little surprised since Sicarius usually didn't return that soon.

Kira could feel the Sith Lord's presence too and she glanced at Obi-Wan who nodded and began gathering the Force around him. She couldn't be sure if the Sith Lord had sensed what they were doing or not but it was obvious he wasn't or else he probably wouldn't have entered the cell when he did.

"You four are trying my patience," he said coolly. "Now I want answers to my questions."

"You want an answer?" Ahsoka sneered. "Fine. Here's your answer!" Then she, Mara, Obi-Wan and Kira lashed out with the Force at the same time. The resulting Force blast sent Sicarius flying into the durasteel wall next to the door. He hit hard, fell to the ground and Kira felt him lose consciousness.

"Come on," Obi-Wan said leaping to his feet before he used the Force to open the cell door and dash out of the cell lashing out with the Force and sending the two guards flying down the corridor. Kira dashed out of the room along with Mara and Ahsoka, the latter two turned before closing and locking the door behind them.

"Okay, we've got only a few minutes head start at best," said Obi-Wan, "since we don't know how long Sicarius is going to remain unconscious."

He took off down the corridor and Kira followed him with Ahsoka and Mara bringing up the rear. Adrenaline was what was allowed Kira to keep moving though she could still feel the pain from the multiple strikes of Force lightning. Obi-Wan stopped when he reached one of the guards he had knocked unconscious with his Force push and removed a few grenades as well as a blaster from him.

They jogged onward down the curving hallway, stopping at a weapons room where they found their lightsabers, before stopping when they reached a door. Obi-Wan gestured before ducking into an empty cell lying next to them and Kira, Mara and Ahsoka quickly followed as a few soldiers walked down the hall past them. "The command post is probably crawling with soldiers, Dad," Kira said softly. "We need another way out of here."

"There." Obi-Wan pointed across the hall to where there was a metal grate. "That either leads to a ventilation shaft or a garbage chute but, either way, it might be our best chance at getting out of here."

Kira grimaced. She didn't like the idea of going down a garbage chute but decided that it was their best option and, possibly, their only option.

"All right, let's go," said Ahsoka.

Kira peered into the corridor determining it was empty before she dashed toward the grate. She knelt down and removed the grate covering the chute before wincing as the smell wafted toward her. "All right, let's get this over with," she said with a grimace as she climbed into the chute and slide down. She landed with a splash in the garbage masher and she turned around as Mara Ahsoka and Obi-Wan followed her.

Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber before sinking it into the door carving an oval big enough for him to walk through before he deactivated the lightsaber and peered into the hallway. "Clear," he said and climbed out of the masher just as a grinding sound alerted Kira to the fact that the masher was being turned on. She quickly climbed out of the masher behind her father and Ahsoka and Mara followed.

"All right, what now?" asked Ahsoka gazing at the corridor.

"The alarms haven't gone off so they don't know we're gone yet," said Obi-Wan. "I'll head off to turn off the tractor beam while the three of you get back to the hangar bay."

"Uh where's that?" asked Ahsoka gazing around.

"Probably two or so decks above us," said Obi-Wan.

"How are you going to find a tractor beam power generator?" asked Kira.

"Leave that to me," her father said. "Now go. Don't forget, we don't know how long Sicarius is going to remain unconscious."

Kira nodded. "Be careful, Dad," she said hugging her father.

"I will be, Kira," Obi-Wan said hugging her back before he released her, turned around and took off.

"All right, now time to find the hangar bay," said Ahsoka before she, Mara and Kira headed off in the opposite direction of the Jedi Master.

* * *

Obi-Wan has been onboard dreadnoughts before during the Clone Wars and that was the only reason he had a general idea of where the generators were located. It took him a while to pinpoint where he was on the dreadnought after he got out of the garbage masher, he was on the engineering deck, and after that it became a matter of finding the generator.

It was a good thing Anakin had taught him the basics of hacking into a computer system.

After scanning the layout of the dreadnought and determining where the nearest tractor beam generator was, Obi-Wan took off toward it. He didn't know if shutting down the power to one generator would be enough to allow them to escape though but he remembered that turning off one generator on the Death Star had allowed the _Millennium Falcon _to escape. _Let's hope it's the same for this dreadnought,_ he thought.

He continued to run down the curving corridor toward the generator sticking to the shadows and ducking into empty rooms whenever he saw soldiers until he reached the room. Pressing against the wall outside the generator's room, he stretched out with the Force only sensing a few occupants in the room.

Using the Force, he opened the door before removing one of the smoke grenades he had grabbed off one of the guards he had knocked out when they first escaped. He activated it before tossing it into the room and pressing against the wall beside the door. The grenade went off and smoke billowed out of the room followed by coughing soldiers in uniform. He aimed a Force push at the soldiers who came out and they flew into the wall knocked unconscious on impact.

Once the smoke cleared, Obi-Wan dashed into the room and toward the console. He spotted the power lever and pulled it watching as the power to the tractor beam generator drained away. _Now to get to the hangar_, he thought before dashing across the walkway next to the console to the door at the other end of the walkway. The door opened into a turbolift lobby and he headed across it into the turbolift.

Once inside the lift, he pressed the button that would take him to the hangar deck. The layout he had studied earlier had told him the location of the hangar bays and he had been right in guessing that he, his daughter, Ahsoka and Mara were two decks below them. The lift continued its journey upward and Obi-Wan leaned against the wall releasing his exhaustion into the Force.

When the lift came to a stop, Obi-Wan dashed into the lift lobby before scanning the corridor in front of him with the Force for occupants. When he didn't sense anyone, he thumbed the door release button and dashed into the corridor.

* * *

Sicarius was furious.

First, the four blasted Jedi knocked him unconscious by catching him off guard with that Force blast and then they escape the detention center without alerting the guards in the command post.

Everyone seemed to have known he was furious because they stayed out of his way as he strode toward the hangar bay where the shuttle was located. His lightsabers were in his hand though they would remain off until he came into contact with the Jedi. Even though he was sure the Jedi had already told the Jedi Council about the fleet's location, he wasn't going to let them get away; killing four Jedi would definitely deal a sharp blow to the Jedi Order.

Soldiers scattered the instant they saw him when he reached the hangar deck. He reached out with the Force just in time to sense that three of the four Jedi were near the hangar bay where the shuttle was located. He immediately headed toward the hangar deck eyes scanning the area before he spotted the three Jedi skidding to a halt the instant they spotted him.

"Oh kriff," the red-haired apprentice said.

"Well, if it isn't three of my four escapees," Sicarius said coolly. "I expected the four of you would escape but I did not expect to be pushed into a blasted wall." His eyes narrowed and anger crawled through him as he ignited his lightsabers falling into a ready stance.

"Kira, Mara, head to the hangar now. I'll distract Sicarius," the Togruta ordered igniting her lightsabers and holding them in a reverse hand grip.

"But master," the red-haired girl began.

"Go!"

The two apprentices nodded before running toward the hangar bay while Sicarius leapt at the Togruta who caught his attack with her blades and the duel began. A whirlwind of strikes and slashes followed as the Togruta parried his attacks and he blocked her thrusts. They were evenly matched but Sicarius was not about to let a Jedi defeat him.

Breaking the bladelock they had been locked in, Sicarius unleashed a blast of Force lightning that the Togruta caught on one of her blades. The power behind the lightning sent her skidding backwards a few feet and her teeth gritted as she struggled to fend off the lightning. Breaking off the lightning, Sicarius lashed out with the Force and the Togruta was pushed into the wall behind her. Her hands went to her throat when Sicarius grabbed it with the Force and lifted her up.

"You were once Skywalker's apprentice," he purred striding forward to come to a stop in front of the Jedi. "I'm disappointed. I would've thought anyone taught by Skywalker would at least pose _some_ challenge."

"I've still…got a few…tricks up my…sleeve," the Togruta gasped.

Sicarius curled his lip into a sneer before one of his lightsabers disarmed the Togruta and he threw her into the wall. She fell to the ground with a groan before she struggled to push herself to her feet reaching out with the Force for her lightsabers only to collapse again when forks of lightning slammed into her. Screams of pain erupted from her lips as she writhed on the ground.

"Master!"

A Force push sent Sicarius skidding backwards a few feet and he glared at the interruption to find the red-haired apprentice standing there, blue lightsaber ignited and in her hand.

"Mara, get out of here," the Togruta gasped struggling to get to her feet.

"Not without you," the girl, Mara, growled glaring at Sicarius who simply raised an eyebrow.

"You really think you can take me on, little apprentice," he said.

"She may not be able to but I can."

The new voice, calm and collected, was accompanied by a Force push that sent Sicarius skidding to the side. He whirled around eyes flaring as Kenobi walked forward lightsaber in hand and ignited while his eyes were fixed on him.

Mara dashed to the Togruta's side while Sicarius was focused on Kenobi and helped her to her feet.

"Mara, get Ahsoka out of here," Kenobi ordered.

"But Master Kenobi…" Mara began.

"Just do as you're told, Mara."

"Yes Master Kenobi," said Mara before she guided Ahsoka away from the confrontation between the Sith Lord and the Jedi Master.

"You may have defeated a Sith Lord before, Kenobi, but that doesn't mean you'll defeat me," said Sicarius before he leapt at Kenobi who caught the attack with his own blade.

* * *

_The explosion sent shockwaves across the city. Debris flew in all directions crashing into buildings and streets. Maniacal laughter could be heard above the screams of agony. Clones hurried down the walkways toward the location of the explosion while speeders flew in the opposite direction. Some were unlucky enough to get caught in the shockwave and were sent careening into buildings._

Anakin sat up sharply so sharply that his head spun and he, with a groan, lied back down. A day had gone by since the robbery at the Jedi Temple and the escape of the dark Jedi who caused it. As Luke had predicted, the attack on the Senate building had been a distraction and there had been an explosion in the Jedi Temple. If Madame Nu, Galen and Jinn hadn't been near the holocron vault when the dark Jedi had retrieved the holocron then they would not have noticed it. However, the dark Jedi still escaped through the ventilation system but the Jedi had alerted the Senate and had clones as well as a few Jedi searching the planet for the dark Jedi.

Mace Windu had also found a comlink in the security hall outside the holocron vault and they were working to reconstruct the last call made from it. They had still been working on that when Anakin returned to the Temple after spending most of the day at the Senate making sure Chancellor Mothma and Leia were all right after the supposed attack. They were able learn that the dark Jedi was heading toward Corellia and decided to finish reconstructing the last call in the morning.

The dream he just had was similar to the one he had earlier but it had more detail and seemed to hint that it might be taking place on Corellia.

_Something's going to happen on Corellia, my vision says as much,_ Anakin thought._ But what? And can I stop it? I mean, I stopped Padmé dying in childbirth and Obi-Wan helped stop my mother dying. _He didn't know if he could but he would try to.

He wished that he could ask Obi-Wan but his former master was still trapped onboard the dreadnought. It was also early, no more than an hour after midnight, and Anakin doubted anyone he could talk to about his vision was up. Even Luke wasn't up and Anakin was glad that Luke hadn't had the more detailed vision.

He decided that he needed to get his mind off his vision and he changed and left his room before he walked over to the kitchenette. Making himself a cup of caf, he wandered into the living room and sipped at the caf. He wondered how Obi-Wan was doing and whether he managed to escape the person that captured him.

_Checking on him will be a good way to get my mind off my vision,_ he thought reaching out with the Force toward his best friend. He immediately sensed the danger that Obi-Wan was in though he couldn't be sure what the danger was. He had a feeling it was whoever captured Obi-Wan, Kira, Ahsoka and Mara.

"Dad?"

Anakin glanced over his shoulder at Luke who was walking toward him rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You're up early, son," he said.

Luke yawned. "Yeah. No idea what woke me up though," he said sitting down beside his father. "Why are you up so early? You're usually sleeping until noon when you aren't on a mission."

Anakin scowled at his son though his eyes shone with amusement. "I've gotten better since you and Leia were born," he said ruffling his son's hair and Luke, though still looking half-asleep, scowled at him.

"Stop that," he said ducking away from Anakin before he yawned again.

At that moment, Anakin's comlink went off. He, not remembering that he had grabbed it when he left his room, keyed it on. "Skywalker," he said into it.

"_Skywalker,_" Windu's voice sounded. "_Come to the Situation Room in the High Council Tower. We've managed to reconstruct the last call made on the comlink we found in the holocron vault and it's not good news. Bring Luke._"

"On my way, Master Windu," Anakin said before he clicked the transmission off and stood up. "Come on, they've managed to reconstruct the last call on the comlink."

Luke nodded before getting up and disappearing into his room. He returned dressed in his Jedi robes, he had been in his pajamas before, with his lightsaber clipped on his belt. Anakin led the way out of the room and headed toward the Situation Room. Galen met them at the top of the stairs with Jinn just beside him when they stepped out of the turbolift.

"Hey Luke, Uncle Anakin," Jinn greeted him.

"Jinn, Galen," Anakin said before following Jinn and Galen as they led the way into the Situation Room.

The Situation Room was a circular chamber that took up an entire level of the Tower. Along the outer walls, large transparisteel windows granted a panoramic view of the cityscape. In the center of the chamber was a sunken dais on which was a large holotable surrounded by comm stations and holocharts. Standing around the table were most of the members of the Jedi Council and Siri. Windu stood across from the door with Yoda at his side.

"Anakin," Windu greeted him as Anakin joined the gathered Council Members with his son at his side.

"So what's going on?" Anakin asked.

"We reconstructed the last call," Windu said. "It would appear that the dark Jedi was in contact with someone who is following the orders of a Lord Sicarius."

Brow furrowing, Anakin said, "Who's Sicarius?"

"Kira told me that Sicarius was the name the Sith who captured her and Dad and them gave them," Jinn said.

"Sicarius is a Sith?" Windu echoed.

"Why weren't we told this immediately?" asked Shaak Ti.

"With the dark Jedi infiltrating the Temple and then trying to reconstruct the last call on the comlink, I kinda forgot," Jinn admitted.

"How do we know Sicarius is a Sith?" said Plo Koon.

"We don't," said Adi Gallia. "But it's a possibility. I don't think Kira would have said that otherwise."

"And his goals, if Sicarius is the same dark Jedi who chased Jenica, are the same as Palpatine's," Anakin put in.

"We don't know if Sicarius is the same person who chased Jenica," Windu pointed out.

"Point taken."

"Let's get back to why we're here. We were able to learn that the person the dark Jedi was talking to is planning on doing something on Corellia for her master and she needed the dark Jedi to pull off a distraction."

"She?" Jinn perked up in interest.

"Both voices were distinctly female yes," said Windu.

"Is the fact could be like what happened at the Senate be why we're here?" asked Anakin.

Windu nodded. "We might need to do a covert operation in order to figure out what these dark Jedi are doing, who their target is and, possibly, why. In other words, these dark Jedi can't know we know about whatever they're planning."

"No problem there. We _don't_ know what they're planning," Anakin pointed out. "So what's the plan?"

"We've discussed it and we decided to send two Jedi teams to Corellia," Stass Allie said. "We don't believe in coincidence and it's just as possible these dark Jedi are working for Sicarius as the fact that Sicarius could be the same person who attacked Jenica. So we think that if Sicarius wants to take over the Republic then he might target the Senate."

"That is why, send one Jedi team to protect Senator Garm Bel Iblis we will and investigate the other team shall," Yoda said.

"My apprentice and I will be going," said Windu. "And we've decided to have you come with us, Anakin. You and your apprentice will protect the senator while Galen and I investigate."

_Stang,_ Anakin thought and he could feel that his son obviously didn't like the idea of playing bodyguard to a senator either. Though he didn't like it, he would still do it. Over the years, he had gotten better at obeying orders thanks primarily to Obi-Wan's teachings even after he was knighted.

"Important that part of the mission is," said Yoda. "If the target Senator Bel Iblis is then well protected he must be."

Anakin placed a hand on Luke's shoulder as he nodded. "When do we leave?"

"We'll leave later today," said Windu. "May the Force be with us all."

* * *

Mara Jade stood at the top of the boarding ramp gazing toward she had last seen Obi-Wan her lightsaber was in her hand and blocking the blaster bolts that came from the soldiers in the hangar bay. Kira stood at her side her yellow blade also blocking blaster bolts or redirecting them back at the shooter. Nearby, Obi-Wan was still locked in a duel with Sicarius; their duel had taken them into the hangar bay a few minutes earlier.

"We should probably prepare for a quick getaway," Mara said.

"Ahsoka's preparing the engines right now," Kira said.

"How is she?"

"A bit shaky but she'll be fine."

Mara watched Obi-Wan flip backward before he lashed out with the Force when he was upside down in midair. Sicarius stumbled and unleashed a torrent of Force lightning at Obi-Wan who, landing neatly on his feet, caught the lightning on his blade. Though in his forties, Obi-Wan was still a force to be reckoned with. He was one of the greatest duelists in the entire Order, being one of the few to have mastered Form III of lightsaber combat, as was obvious by how he was able to hold Sicarius back and only looked slightly tired.

Obi-Wan lashed out with the Force again before flipping backwards again closer to the boarding ramp. He was now within earshot and, as he caught another torrent of lightning, he glanced at Kira who nodded sharply.

"Come on," she said to Mara closing down her lightsaber and dashing back into the shuttle. Mara slowly backed away blocking blaster bolts as she felt the shuttle shudder as the main engines were brought online and the ship slowly lifted up as the landing gear was retracted. She watched as Obi-Wan, with one last Force push, took a flying leap backwards to land in the middle of the boarding ramp.

Without pausing, he dashed into the shuttle and Mara lifted the boarding ramp. When it was lifted, she called, "clear," and felt the shuttle shoot forward.

She dashed into the cockpit nearly losing her balance when the ship passed through the containment field that kept the hangar bay pressurized. Grabbing the back of the co-pilot seat, Kira was seated there, she watched as Ahsoka twisted the ship around and flew away from the dreadnought.

"Fighters incoming," Kira said sharply as the shuttle hurried to get as far from the dreadnought as needed in order to make the jump to hyperspace.

"We won't last long against the fighters and I'm pretty sure Sicarius won't care if we're destroyed this time around," Obi-Wan said tiredly.

Kira looked at him concerned but Obi-Wan waved it off. "I'm fine," he said. "How long before we can make the jump to hyperspace?"

"Minutes we don't have," Ahsoka said through gritted teeth. "Blast, it's times like these that I wish Anakin were here."

Mara knew all about Anakin Skywalker's legendary piloting skills and how he could get them out of messes such as the one they were easily. Glancing at Kira and Obi-Wan, she could see that they agreed with her and she did too; Luke had to have gotten his good piloting skills somewhere.

Mara frowned at that thought. She hadn't thought about Luke at all throughout the mission and had to wonder why he came into her mind at that moment. She brushed it off and focused at the situation at hand.

The ship suddenly shuddered violently and everyone lurched forward. Ahsoka's teeth ground together. "We're hit," she said. "Shuttles like these aren't meant for battle and the shields won't hold out long. I'll redirect power to them to strengthen them a little but I don't know how long that'll buy us."

"It just needs to buy us enough time to make the jump to hyperspace," said Obi-Wan.

Another blast caught the ship and it suddenly shuddered violently before listing to one side until Ahsoka was able to level it out. "Blast. That one nearly took out our stabilizer. The shield's power is dropping fast."

The navicomputer beeped alerting the occupants of the cockpit to the fact that it could go to hyperspace. However, just as that happened, another blast caught the shuttle and it suddenly spun; Obi-Wan and Mara grabbed the back of the seats tightly to avoid getting tossed into the durasteel walls.

"One of the stabilizers is badly damaged."

"Can we still go to hyperspace?" asked Obi-Wan.

"So long as the stabilizer doesn't give out anytime soon, we should be able to but I'm having a bit of trouble trying to level the ship out."

"Here, let me try," Mara said.

Ahsoka glanced at her before nodding knowing that Mara was a capable pilot herself. They switched places and Mara began running her fingers over the console in an attempt to level the shuttle out. She worked instinctively, letting the Force guide her fingers and, before long, they were leveled out. After that, she pulled the hyperspace level and the stars transformed into the churning blue-white tunnel of hyperspace.

Mara leaned back relieved but, a few hours later, she learned that her relief came too soon because it was a few hours later that the console began to blare a warning. She scowled when she read the diagnostics report that came with the warning. "We need to drop out of hyperspace now," she said as the shuttle shuddered violently before she pulled the hyperspace lever and, just as suddenly, the churning tunnel vanished to be replaced by a field of stars and an orange planet beyond which were two brilliant suns.

"Of all places, we end up near Tatooine?" Obi-Wan said a little surprised.

"The Force certainly works in mysterious ways," Ahsoka commented just as the shuttle shuddered violently again before it began to spin as the damaged stabilizer finally went out and Mara gritted her teeth as she gripped the control yoke of the shuttle so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"I'm going to try to put us down on Tatooine," she said as she struggled to level out but, without the stabilizer, it was nearly impossible.

"Use the Force, Mara," Obi-Wan said gently. "Reach out with the Force and let it guide you."

Mara closed her eyes before reaching into the Force; immediately, she could feel the currents of the Force swirl around her. She had only been learning for five years but she had some measure of control over the Force though not enough to accomplish what Obi-Wan was implying she do. However, she could feel Ahsoka reaching out to help her as well as Obi-Wan and Kira; they were also using the Force to ensure that they arrived on the planet's surface as unscathed as possible.

At the very least, the shuttle stopped spinning but when it hit Tatooine's atmosphere, the turbulence nearly made Mara lose her concentration. She gritted her teeth and reached out again along with Ahsoka, Kira and Obi-Wan but they were coming down too fast. They shot through the air like a shooting star and then, suddenly, they hit something.

Mara's eyes snapped open and she watched as they bounced over the dune they had hit and skidded across the sand before slamming into the dune beyond. The force of the impact sent Mara and Kira lurching forward so fast that Mara's head slammed forward and then darkness took her.

* * *

**A/n what do you think?**

**Blaze: CLIFFHANGER! My first cliffhanger of this entire story!**

**Darth: how dare you cut…?**

**Blaze: (holds out frappuccino)**

**Darth: never mind (takes frappuccino and runs)**

**Luke: what happens next?!**

**Blaze: I ain't saying**

**Han: hey, I talk like that**

**Chewbacca: (growl)**

**Blaze: hint**

**Palpypie: hi**

**Anakin: wait, you're dead in this story!**

**Palpypie: am I?**

**Blaze: possible hint**

**Anakin: well, if you're not then I'll happily fix that (lifts up flaming machete and chases after Palpypie)**

**Palpypie: (screams like a little girl and takes off running)**

**Blaze: (laughs) please review and I will post chapter 5 as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it will be anytime soon so sorry to everyone for the dreadful cliffhanger but hey, gotta had some suspense to my story (and maybe get some more reviews? Hint, hint.)**


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